Never say 'Goodbye'
by Ekitai
Summary: ...Stupid Fruvo, Stupid Kabuto, Stupid stupid STUPID! Ugh, WHY is my life so screwed? Shika one shot, intwined with Laced with Fog by selfimplodingdoom. ShikamaruxOC, DeidaraxOC..and KakashixOC. Last two OCs is Selfimplodingdoom's character.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 **

Whimpers and loud whines were the first thing I heard, coming out of my dreamless sleep. The foul odor of smoke filled my nostrils when I took a deep breath, and I coughed loudly as it burned my lungs. My eyes slowly opened, I was forcing them to so I could see what the hell was going on. Ekitai was perched on my stomach, staring at me with her frightened blue-green eyes. She was agitated, trying to wake me up as she licked my face in urgency.

"What's up with you?" I muttered, stroking her head. She barked, then jumped off the bed and waited for me to do the same. I yawned, coughing, and my eyes were finally coming into focus. I looked at the wall of the hall, and a dark, writhing shadow was growing larger as I sat there paralyzed. There was an immense heat as I got dressed, and the flames grew quickly. Scared, I grabbed all of my things in a rush... I didn't have that much. Stuffing it all in a bag, I broke my window and jumped out of it, landing on my feet like some cat would, ignoring the glass that threatened to cut me. My dog followed, gliding with her small blue wings. I ran, in spite of my need to stay there and do something about the destruction of my home. I paused about twelve yards away, confused. Where was Miso? I suddenly felt dread and worry as I ran back to the direction of the house I once lived in. The fire hadn't reached the front door yet, and I was surprised. I was about to push it open when I discovered the note taped to it. Without thinking, I reached for it. Then I ran, instinct telling me that if I didn't get out, the fire would burn me alive. I somehow knew that my dad was no longer within those walls.

That was what happened, up 'till now. _Now_ I'm just running around like some lost stray, blindly searching for a comfortable place to stay. The village of Konoha was all around me, enveloped in the night that would be broken by the light of the sun hours from now. The cold that was pinching my skin now would soon be replaced by the warmth of it as well. I strained to hear any sound that wasn't made by my footsteps, my heavy breathing, and Ekitai's paws against the pavement. The only friend we had right then was the moon, as it's silvery light replaced that of the fire's own yellow, and guided us to a friendly home that was oh-so familiar to me. Exhausted, I put my hands on my knees, breathing slightly hard. Ekitai insulted me, by her small figure appearing to have taken no toll at all from the workout we just experienced. I glared at her in envy, and she twitched her ears, her eyes full with pure innocence and a speck of tease. As I lifted my hand to knock on my friend's door, it opened, and a woman was revealed to let out a cat. She gasped and screamed slightly at the sight of me. Startled, I had nearly fallen over Ekitai's small figure as I took a few steps backward. But she relaxed when she recognized my face, and gave me an incredious look.

"Teima Ryuka," she scolded, hands on her hips. "Just _what _do you think you're doing at this time of night?" Her pretty long black hair was flipped so that it didn't remain in her face, and I lifted my head to see the defiant look of Nara Shikamaru's mother. I shrugged, not exactly knowing what to say. I came here out of ..well...I guess you could call it instinct, but I really had no idea why I dragged myself here. Shikamaru's mother sighed, and opened the door to let me in.

"Shikamaru and his father are playing Shogi in the kitchen, they're being stubborn about giving up on this game. Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep. I'll talk to you in the morning." She really did seem tired, with droopy eyes she warily looked at me.

"Right..Sleep in, it looks like you need it." I bowed, showing her my respect and gratitude for allowing me into her home so late at night. I checked the clock, and my eyes widened with surprise as I realized that it was nearly midnight. Normally, Shikamaru would be sleeping. Sleeping _defined_ him, if anyone ever asked. I wandered into the kitchen, and Shikamaru and his father were so focused they didn't even notice me as I sat down next to them.

"Shika---" He jumped, scaring me as his arms flung towards my face. I ducked, thankful for my reflexes. He whirled around, and relaxed a little when he recognized me. Sheesh, what's his issue. You'd think he'd at least be aware of my stepping into the room, or hearing his mother's voice at the door, being the Chunin that he is.

"T-Teima?! What the HELL are you doing in my kitchen!?" I glanced at his father. He was staring at me stupidly, but when he caught sight of my looking at him, he shrugged carelessly.

"Shikamaru, _this_ is why you shouldn't have a woman for a best friend. They're _such _a pain," I turned, and slapped his arm. "Ow!" He glared at me dully and rubbed his sore spot.

Relaxed now, my friend sighed, then laughed at his father's pain.

"Watch what you say, she wont let you insult women like that.. troublesome as that is.." I turned and punched his arm lightly, a warning.

"_Anyway_, before I get insulted again, I'm here because...er..." I searched for better words, but I found none, so I bluntly said the stupid ones. "My house caught fire." Shikamaru stared, and his dad raised an eyebrow at my words. He replied smartly.

"Hmm... I wonder who could have _possibly_ set it on fire. Maybe, just maybe, it could be someone who ... Oh, I don't know... Barged into someone's house at midnight?!" I glared at him, and Shikamaru stepped on his foot. He knew better, I was being serious.

"Teima, who did this..?" I shrugged, unaware of who could have possibly wanted to have me burn alive. Wait! The note! I dug through my pockets, and found the folded piece of paper that might give me a clue that would help me make sense of this mess. It was in scrawled handwriting...my father's, unmistakably. That was his home that was burned down, as well as mine. Why would he..?

' Teima,

I hope you find this; I don't know if you're dead or not. But if you do come across this letter..

Kabuto came for me. Most likely because Orochimaru wanted the demon that is inside of me. He told me to write this to you, as a favor to Orochimaru's wishes. He says that you have exactly a year to recover me. But don't do this, Teima, don't! I don't want you killed! I don't know what they'll do to you, because you never know, it could be YOU that they're after! Don't act rashly. I know you, Teima, and you'll want to come find me... but... before you do so, become much, much stronger. This all could be a tr'

The letter ended there. I could visibly see the water reaching my eyes, and anger creeping over my body as my hands shook. Overloaded, tear drops hit the paper. Knowing that Kabuto probably forced him to stop there, I folded it up slowly. I hate myself. Shienna... A vivid image came to my mind, Shienna's face. One of my first friends ever, besides Uchiha Sasuke and Nara Shikamaru. I always hung out with them alone, they weren't too fond of each other. It's all my fault she left. I let it slip that she had a monster inside of her. My dreams...or nightmares, rather, consisted of the same material :

_Ino and Sakura were right in my face. I was on the ground, glaring with fierceness up at them, my lips pursed so that I couldn't say anything._

_'Spit it out!' Ino had said, twisting my wrists and they threatened to snap. Sakura was shyly agreeing with whatever Ino said.._

_'Yeah, Teima, tell us what in the world Shienna is! You know better than anyone!' They knew she was different.. and Ino agreed with Sakura. I was writhing, my small body twisting in Ino's grasp. I knew I couldn't escape, and they'd find out anyway... maybe... it was okay that I told? Only two people, right?_

_'She...has a demon inside of her.. You know.. like Naruto..' Ino let go of me, shocked and scared. Sakura was backing away, frightened. I knew I had made a mistake. I got up as fast as I could and ran after them, shouting not to tell anyone. I knew it was useless. They spread the word, and within the next week, Shienna was gone._

This was all truth, a true story. Now my father is gone because of me as well.

"DAMNIT!" I shouted, slamming my fist on the Nara family's table, turning it over and ruining their game. Shikamaru placed his hand on my shoulder, and I turned to face him. He was faintly surprised at the crimson that my eyes now were. Ever since I was born, when I was angry... My eyes would go crimson. I really understood none of it, but by now Shikamaru was used to it.

"Teima...tell me what's wrong." He said this as a demand, but he said it carefully, choosing the right words as though I were fragile. At this point, I knew that I was on the verge of having some kind of fit, hitting myself and calling myself the worst names possible. My father. Shienna was one thing.. she was a friend. But my father. This is all going too far. What, in the seven hells, had I done to make Kabuto take him away from me? He was my security blanket. As long as he's in Konoha and safe, I would be fine. Now, he's in the unknown, with Kabuto and Orochimaru, and most likely, Uchiha Sasuke. Another friend I failed to prevent from going away. I knew he seeked power, and that I could do nothing to stop him, but that was so so so stupid of me. I could have told him something! This, is probably the reason why I was clinging to Shikamaru like a tick at the moment.

"Don't..you...leave..me...too.." I was forcing these words through my gritted teeth, then was comforted as my best friend pulled me into a hug.

"I wont, Teima, it's alright. Now can you please tell me what the hell is up? I may be somewhat smart, but I can't figure out what could possibly be---" He stopped there as I shoved the note onto his chest. I had let go, and was trying to get a grip on myself. A wave of shame and guilt swept over me as I gazed down at the mess of the Nara family's kitchen table.

"I'm...sorry about the table," I muttered, offering Shikamaru's father help in lifting the table back to it's original place. Unexpectedly, I recieved a grieving hug from Shikamaru.

"Teima, tomorrow you must report this to Tsunade-sama. We'll get your father back." He whispered this in my ear, his sweet breath on my neck. I nodded, and after a few minutes of just sitting there he let me go. "You can sleep in my room tonight, Tei," He suggested, and I nodded. He gave me the note back and told his dad goodnight. I apologized again, more coherently, for the barging in and wrecking their game of Shogi. The man of the house nodded and smiled.

"You're welcome here any time of the day, Teima. You're like family here." I smiled back, and followed Shikamaru into his room.

"Teima, you take the bed," He said as he layed out his sleeping bag on the floor. I looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What? No! It's your bed," I protested. He looked at me with tired eyes, examining my own exhausted face. Still being a rebel, I sat down onto his sleeping bag with a "PLOP OKAY THIS IS MINE NOW YOU TOUCH IT YOU DIE" manner. He sighed. "Why are you being such a pain in the ass?" It was a rhetorical question. He knew how stubborn I was. Giving in, he looked at me with a mock-put-out face.

"I'm trying to be a good host, and here you are, making me look like some kind of mean guy."

"Well, that's too bad then. Looks like you'll be the mean guy tonight. I plan on being the innocent woman." I grinned, playing his game. He scowled.

"Good night then," he rolled over in his bed, giving me the sign that he wanted to sleep.

"Night," I whispered. It was a few long minutes before I realized something, and I gasped.

"Tei..." He groaned. "What'd you forget."

"Where's Ekitai?!" I panicked, I never spent too long without my faithful companion. My eyes scanned the room, and I didn't see a small snow-white dog with a curl at the top of her head, along with a blue stripe going from her forehead and covering her tail. There's a white blotch at the tip, and she wore a green collar that beheld a blue and green feather. Small blue wings protruded from her shoulders, and were only large enough when I gave her some of my chakra and she transformed into a wolf so that she could fly, and become an awesome fighting partner. Shikamaru didn't seem to find the prospect of my dog not being here very worry-worthy at all.

"I don't know. Look, Tei, you'll see her in the morning. She always comes back, you know that. Now go to sleep. I'll let you sleep in tomorrow morning." The last words became jumbled up as he began to lose consciousness. I relaxed, knowing he was right. She would come back, she always does. Closing my icy-blue eyes, I greatly welcomed the darkness that came over me.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

As I awoke, I could hear voices discussing something over my head. I recognized them to belong to Shikamaru and Tsunade-sama.

"She's welcome here," Shikamaru said, obviously denying something by the tone of his voice. "She could stay here until we've recovered her father. I think I'm the best person to be with her right now."

"Shikamaru, I know very well of the relationship between Teima and yourself." I opened one eye, and could see Shikamaru grinning slightly at the word 'relationship'. Tsunade eyed him curiously before continuing.

"But the Inuzaka family is probably the best place for her right now..and, besides that, Kiba beat you to the offer." At this, Shikamaru's eyes revealed his annoyance.

"Fine, whatever. You're the Hokage. I'm just saying, don't come whining to me if Teima becomes depressed or something." Tsunade smiled at this.

"Ah, but you'll be the one she runs to. Am I not mistaken?" Shikamaru huffed, his excuse for arguing blown to pieces by her comeback. He glanced down at me to find me laying there, confused, watching them talk above me.

"Teima! You're awake," He smiled, and pink flushed up to his cheeks as he probably wondered how much of that I heard. Tsunade looked down at me, not surprised.

"Have you heard enough?" She sounded hopeful, probably not wanting to repeat all that she's told Shikamaru.

"Enough, yes. I'm living with the Inuzakas?" I hoped I was wrong.

"Mmhm. Well, I better go. Good day, Teima... Shikamaru." She stood up and nodded before leaving the room. I sat up straight and yawned, stretching. He didn't say a word about what just happened, and that was fine with me.

"Tei, you can stay here if you want. I'm going to go train with Chouji and Ino." I wrinkled my nose at the mention of the pig. Her and I never really got along, thanks to the fact that I had befriended Uchiha. It's not exactly my fault that she's a fangirl and I'm not.

"Nah, it's fine, I'll go too." I really wanted to use this time to let out the anger I was bottling up, although the need for revenge wouldn't be soothed until Orochimaru and Kabuto were dead. I hopped out of his sleeping bag, realizing that Ekitai was on Shikamaru's lap, nearly purring as he stroked her head. Why didn't I notice that she was there earlier? I'm so slow. Shikamaru smirked at my surprise and handed her to me. He went out of the room to give me some privacy. I quickly changed into fresh clothes, and combed my hair until I got out every rat I could find. Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets as we left his house in the direction of Team 10's training grounds. I spotted his teammates quickly, and they didn't look to happy at the sight of me. Chouji sighed in disappointment, and Ino snorted. I glared at them in response, getting the obvious point that I wasn't wanted.

"Shikamaru, Ekitai and I will be...over...there," I declared, pointing to a clearing I found while I was talking to him. He looked from me to his teammates, then back to me and back to his teammates again, then his eyes rested on mine.

"Troublesome girl.." he muttered as he walked in the direction of his friends. I led Ekitai to the edge of the clearing. Today was a fine, fine day. Blue skies, white clouds, the usual. Sunny, though. I wished it would rain. I grinned, awaiting relief of the burden of anger. I hovered my hand over the small dog's head, and focused my chakra in that hand. I then allowed it to rush out of me, in strings through my fingers. As the chakra flowed into Ekitai, she grew, and when the gut feeling came that it was enough, I stopped, and removed my hand from the now-wolf's head.

"You ready?" I whispered to Ekitai, and then quickly made five hands signs, all of the water element, then lifted my hands after pausing on one hand sign, then moving out one arm to my right.

"Water art jutsu!" A vivid image of a wolf standing to my right appeared in my head, and a large blob of chakra took shape of that wolf. I looked expectantly at that spot. Sure enough, moisture collected from everything that contained it, and the water seemed to be magnetized to my chakra. It was a weird thing, nobody I knew of had it. My father is a genjutsu user, and he knew little ninjutsu or taijutsu, but I discovered this long, long ago when I was experimenting in school. After some of my own research, I realized that my chakra attracted the positive side of the water molecules, and thus is the reason I can use it for this particular jutsu. I couldn't explain how it attracted the other liquids though. The Water-wolf and Ekitai both looked at me in unified impatience, and I pointed to an entire row of trees along the outside of the clearing.

"Bare your teeth and sharpen your claws upon that victim!" I shouted, and they immediately obeyed. The command is kind of corny, I know, but it's the only one that will work for the Water-wolf. Someday, I'll be able to release more chakra so that I can have a Water-dragon for use, and still have the energy to fight. That's one of my main combat goals, because the dragon is the most powerful in my opinion. But for now, a wolf will do. They're not too shabby either. Within a matter of two minutes, Ekitai and the Water-wolf had shredded every tree in that row, and now where they once stood tall, only bark remained. I sprinted in the direction of the middle of the clearing, and licked a kunai I had pulled out. Applying chakra to it as I went, I threw the kunai in the direction of the blob. Dodging it was pointless, but it had no mind, so it didn't know better. My chakra would stick to _any_ moisture, including saliva and blood. From then on I began working on the simpler of jutsus and expanding them for my convenient use, and tried a little bit of taijutsu.

I stopped for a break, breathless, and running low on my chakra, when I glanced at Team 10 to find them staring. Shouldn't they have been training too? Ugh! Only Shikamaru of the three was working at all, trying out some new shadow-thing that his father had shown him earlier.

"What're you looking at?!" I shouted, and I caught Shikamaru's attention, for I already had the rest of the teams'. He nudged them, and they all sprinted over. Ino was staring as she approached me and Ekitai. The wolf sat next to me, growling at the strangers. Chouji and Ino. Shikamaru was pretty much a friend of hers, and harmless as far as she was concerned. Chouji stopped eating for once in his life to stare at my dog. Ino was glaring at her, and stuck out her tongue childishly. Ekitai made a move as though to harm Ino, and I immediately threw a hand in front of her body. Ekitai got the message, and lay down, ears flattened. Ino then resumed her staring at me.

"Teima.. I never realized you had such..well..." She didn't want to admit it, and Shikamaru boredly finished for her.

"Skill?" He then grinned as he gazed at me thoughtfully. "That's Teima for you, always finding some new tricks up her sleeve. Pain that it is..." His eyes wandered to Ekitai, who was still glaring defiantly at the pig. He looked down at her with awe, then reached down to scratch her behind the ears. She immediately perked up and lifted her head so he wouldn't have to reach as far. He chuckled.

"So...you...really...got...her...to..get huge, huh?" Chouji spoke between mouthfuls of chips. I nodded, then decided to explain.

"All I need to do is give her some of my chakra. Must be the reason why she was given to me... her body reacts to it." Shikamaru nodded, straightening up to comment.

"Troublesome as that sounds, it seems worth it. You really have improved since you became Chunin, Tei," He smiled. Him and I were the only Genin in Konoha to be promoted to Chunin after our first exam.

"I suppose your anger has finally left you?" He guessed right. How'd he know that I was still angry this morning? Maybe my stiffness gave it away...

"Yeah, I suppose." I took out three kunais, aimed, and threw. Chink. Chink. Chink. They all hit their marks on the trees, smack dab in the middle as I randomly planned.

"So. Teima. Have you seen Naruto? He's back, I hear." She smiled awkwardly, glancing at the kunai I just threw. This was strange... Ino was trying to be friendly? Nah. Can't be. She knows of my old crush on Naruto that's disappeared now. I nodded.

"I haven't seen him, but yeah, I've heard he's back too." I tried to keep the conversation light, I'm not in the mood for an argument right now. Woops. Nevermind. Scratch that. I could argue if she wants. She winked at me, and at that moment there was a rustle in the trees, and a "Woosh," and Rock Lee came on the scene.

"Teima-chan! Were you train--" I thought he was an enemy ninja, but I guess not. Woops, again. He dodged the weapon with inhumane speed.

"Hey, I wont hurt you, Teima-chan! I wouldn't do anything like that!" I shrugged.

"Hey, Lee." He sighed with relief, and tried again.

"Were you training just now? You're amazing!" I thought he was going a little over the top with 'amazing,' but I nodded. Ino winked at me again, obviously wanting to start up the conversation that was making me pissed. I glared at her, my eyes turning into a faint crimson now, and hissed. Lee took a step back, surprised.

"..Uhm...Teima-chan...You can hiss?" Forgetting to lift up the glare, I just shifted so that I was facing him. He cringed. I burst out laughing. Him? Afraid of _me?_ Hah!

"Sorry, Sorry...Lee, why would you be scared of me?" I chuckled once more. "You could probably kick my ass any day. I'm no good what-so-ever at hand-to-hand combat...Although, it'd be interesting to see how you'd fight my jutsu." I scratched my chin in thought, then shrugged. Maybe we'd fight one day. I'll find out then. Lee just shook his head.

"You're getting better! I mean, you're not as good as me, but I've been watching y--" He stopped there, and his face turned as red as a cherry. Shikamaru grinned in amusement at the obviousness that he had a thing for me, and Ino suppressed a laugh. I cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing. My stomach growled.

"Guys, I better go. I'm starving here." I smiled crookedly, and patted my stomach. Perfect coincidence, I needed an excuse to escape. I placed my hand on Ekitai's head again, and her size quickly reduced as I absorbed what little chakra was left. Ekitai leaped on to my shoulders and hitched a ride on my head, copying what Akamaru used to do a few years back with Kiba, before he became huge. They all waved their goodbyes and I gave them one simple one as I walked to the direction of the ramen shop.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As I got closer to the ramen shop, I sighed.

"That was awkward.." I mumbled. Chatting with the pig wasn't exactly my favorite pass-time. But I suppose Lee and Chouji are okay. Absolutely nothing wrong with Shikamaru being there. I walked straight into the ramen shop and ordered some. Suddenly there was a gasp beside me, and the breath was knocked out of me as someone pulled me into a rib-cracking hug. A male's voice asked me how I've been. Who is this? I looked at him with a confused expression, and found him to be a tall blonde boy with distinctive blue eyes hugging me and smiling. I stared, wondering who he was, and his face fell when he realized that my expression wasn't a recognizing and happy one and let go. Those eyes... I've seen them before.. but from where?

"You don't remember me?" He asked sadly. Wait a tick...those blue eyes... that blonde hair.. the orange on this kid's jumpsuit...!

"Naruto!" I squealed, hugging him. "Wow! You've grown so much I hardly recognized you!" His face lit up again, and he grinned.

"Here for some ramen? I'll pay." I shook my head. I'm too nice, I don't want to pay for this! But he probably doesn't have any money anyway...

"You don't have to, really. I can pay for myself, thanks." I smiled. It's been sooo long! He's really gotten cuter.

"Okay, I was kind of bluffing anyway," He scratched his head, and laughed nervously. "I really don't have any money at all, the ramen guy's paying for me." I chuckled in amusement. So my suspicions were correct after all. Naruto tried to keep things unawkward, and then started talking about what was coming up for him. Apparently, he had a mission the next day to go capture someone of the Akatsuki, though he wouldn't say who. After he was finished, he me asked how I've been again. I flinched, and turned to my ramen.

"My father's been kidnapped..and my house was burned to cinders last night." I said this all with a lump in my throat. I really missed him, and it's only been a day. To think that I only have a year to train and return him..

Naruto's jaw dropped slightly, and he stared.

"You're kidding, right? This has to be a joke." I shook my head sadly.

"Kabuto is the culprit. There was a note left behind.." I dug through my pockets again and found the slip of paper. I handed it to him, and sighed. I began to feast on my ramen; my stomach was getting really loud now. Naruto read it, and just like Shikamaru, he hugged me. I gave him a confused look, and cocked my head. He laughed.

"Ah, Teima, you're so cute when you're confused." I shrugged.

"I'm just curious to know why you and Shikamaru hugged me after reading that," I admitted. He seemed surprised to hear this news of Shikamaru getting a little snuggly.

"Well, I don't know about him, but I felt that you needed one. You looked like some kind of sad teddy bear." I winced. Did he just call me cute again?

I heard footsteps behind me, and a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to find Shino.

"Uhm..?" I didn't know what was up, what else could I say?

"Tsunade-sama would like to see you." Ah, it was just a message he needed to pass along. Alright then.

"Alright, thanks. Bye, Naruto." He waved, gazing at me sadly as I left my payment on the counter and slouched off in the direction of the Hokage's office. It didn't take me long, and I reached the door soon. I knocked the doors three times, it was my own tradition. I heard a "Come in," and turned the knob, opened the door, and entered the room.

"You wanted to see me, Tsunade-sama?"

"Yes.. there's something I need to discuss with you." I nodded, not quite knowing what it was. Wasn't it settled that I'd live with Kiba?

"I am aware that your house was burned down last night, but nothing else. Where is your father?" I didn't want to answer, but the letter would for me. I grabbed the paper that's been passed around so many times, and handed it to Tsunade. I quietly waited for her to finish and then think about it. Didn't take very long.

"So your father was kidnapped by Kabuto?!" Her eyes shot straight up to look at me. I could see the burning flames of anger in her eyes. I nodded.

"We will do something about this in time, Teima, you must understand, but your father's right. You, like Naruto, are searching for people that are with dangerous ninja. You need to become stronger before you begin your search." I nodded curtly, not liking what I was hearing. I'm not that weak, honestly!

"Now to discuss the real reason I brought you here." I straightened up, anxious to hear what she had to say.

"I have come up with a few new teams, since you do not have one."

"Yeah.. I was new to the school right before graduation, but I was good enough to graduate with the class. Iruka never placed me in a team, so I've been working alongside others." She nodded, understanding.

"Your new team consists of you, Kiba, and Shikamaru." I smiled, happy that my best friend was on my team. But there was something that troubled me.

"Tsunade-sama.. These people have been in their teams for 3 years. Are you really sure--" I was cut off.

"Yes, I am sure. They'll get used to the adjustments." I nodded, giving in to the Hokage's wishes. At least Kiba can't say I didn't try.

"It's getting late, Teima, and I would suggest that you go make yourself at home at the Inuzaka's."

"Goodnight, Tsunade-sama." I bowed and left the room, then the building.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After what seemed to be hours of searching, I finally found the home of the Inuzakas. I walked up to the door and lifted my hand to knock when it opened to reveal none other than Inuzaka Kiba himself. A wolfish grin was planted on his face as he welcomed me in, giving a mock gentleman bow.

"Living here, I see?" The grin seemed to be permanent. I'm not in the mood!

"'Cha, and if you have a problem with it... well I guess it's not mine. So I don't really care. Could you please show me to my room?" It was harder than I thought to say please.

"What? Teima, you didn't really think I had any objections to this, did you?" He winked at me, and started off in the direction of a hall that probably led to my bedroom. I sighed and followed.

"So, dogboy, which room is mine?" There were three doors in this particular hall. One on the left and two on the right. He pointed to the door closest to me on my right.

"That's yours, and the one next to it is mine." He was _still_ grinning, and it was getting on my last nerve.

"Right. Well, I'll be in the shower if you need me." He nodded and reached for Ekitai, who was in my arms, staring at Kiba with the intent of finding out who he was. Kiba looked up when he was only a few inches from her, his eyes asking the question: Is it alright if I take her? I nodded, and he grabbed her by the belly, lifting her into his arms, and let her down inside the room that was behind the door to the left.

"Er...what room is that?"

"That's where the dogs stay. Don't worry; they don't bite newcomers." His grin finally faded, he was trying to show that he was serious.

"Alright then." I trusted him. I should. He probably knows more about my dog than I do just by looking at her. I explored the house, searching for a bathroom. Finally finding one, I went inside and took my shower, finishing my hygeine routine with brushing my hair and teeth. I never really bothered to put on my pjs until I was finished, and it was a mistake. I was nearly finished brushing out my hair when Kiba walked in. I stared, he stared. He blushed, I felt heat rising to my face. He continued to stare, and my eyes narrowed.

"Don't just stand there, get out!" I screeched, trying my best to push him out of the bathroom. Wrapped in a towel, all he had to do was one flick of a hand and it would be off... but he wouldn't dare. At least, I hope he wouldn't. Not only would that bring a world of embarassment, but I would probably get angry too. Still turning 100 different shades of red, he made no move to leave. I glared at him, and the stone color-changing statue woke up, and ran out of the bathroom screaming "SORRY!" as though his life depended on it. I sighed, slamming the door shut. Quickly I finished up, and hurried out of the bathroom to the room Kiba showed me, though I don't think I'll ever manage to call it my room. I pulled out my sketch book from my bag, and started drawing a random doodle of a blushing wolf. Always I draw whatever I feel, or whatever I'm listening to talks about. It helps me get he expressions right.

It was a few minutes before Kiba walked into the room. He was mumbling something incoherent to me.

"Pardon?" He took a deep breath.

"I'm really really sorry about that...you..er...I didn't realize you weren't out yet..so..uh.." He was obviously searching for better words, but those were enough. I nodded, and decided to change the subject to more important matters.

"It's fine, Kiba. Have you heard about the team changes?" He finally decided to stop staring at his shoes to look at me in the eye. Relieved to switch to a better subject, he shook his head.

"Team change..?" I could tell he was interested by the tone of his voice.

"Mhm. You know how I was never teamed up with anyone?"

"Yeah.." I could tell he was lying, for a second there he was hesitant.

"Well, Tsunade decided to make new teams so I wouldn't have to go along with the other teams all of the time." At this he perked up.

"Really? What does this have to do with me?"

"Well... I hate to burst the bubble you've created with Shino and Hinata.. but.. you're with Shikamaru and I." Hearing this news he smiled, and he smiled wide. It was kind of creepy...though satisfying, seeing the joy in his eyes.

"That's great!" He looked absolutely appalled, mouthing 'Wow' over and over.

"Just my luck," He finally used his voice, and I was a little troubled.

"Aren't you going to miss Hinata and Shino? I mean, Kiba, you've been with them for three years!" The light in his warm brown eyes faded.

"Of course I will, are you crazy? It's just...Teima.." I waited for a little bit, but my curiousity and impatience got the better of me.

"What?" He was very hesitant, but finally said something.

"Teima, I think I love you," He breathed, staring at me. Shocked, I just stared back. Kiba? Loves me? What?! I frowned. I thought he had liked Hinata.

"I thought... you liked Hinata?" Taken aback, he looked at me incrediously.

"No! It's always been you, Teima, ever since Ninja Academy!" W...what do I say? What _can_ I say that wont break his heart? I don't like him that way, no... But I can't lead him on either. That'll cause trouble. He took my silence the wrong way. 180 degrees. Definitely. I was in a thinking zone, out of it, when suddenly I felt firm, gentle lips on mine. I sat there, frozen, not knowing what to do. I didn't kiss him back, but yet I didn't push him away, either. He didn't get the message, stupid idiot. Trying to deepen the kiss, he wrapped my arms around his neck and closed his own around my waist, pulling me to his lap. One thing the numbness in my body could resist... I took my arms back and rested them on my lap, then waited for him to finish.

It was three long minutes before he finally broke the kiss to look down at me and smile. I was still staring, still shocked, when I decided to say something.

"Kiba, that was uncalled for." Finally getting it, he let go of me with a hurt expression and placed me on my bed gently.

"I thought you...you...CRAP! I KEEP SCREWING UP WITH YOU!" He flamed, angry with himself. He agonized, face in his hands.

"Kiba, it's okay," It really wasn't but I couldn't put him in any more pain than he was. That would just make me feel guilty. He looked at me, eyes denying it. According to him, this was not okay. I secretly agreed.

"No, no it's not okay, Teima. I'm pushing boundaries with you, and you're too kind to give me the punishment I deserve. Damn you and your kindness," he muttered, watching me for a reaction. I chuckled, then stopped, realizing that this was not the moment to laugh. Gah. Why must I be so stupid?

"Well, I do agree that you did cross the line there..I'm sorry I didn't make that line clear enough for you."

"Yeah!! You should have pushed me away and punched me in the face or something, but noooo, you had to do just sit there and lead me on!" I didn't really blame him for blaming me. He's right, it was stupid. I just let him continue, feeling a little jab of pain at each accusation. It's what I deserve.

"You really need to do better at telling people where exactly your boundaries are. I mean, they're so vague! You can be such an idiot." He continued to rant, ignoring me and what I had to say. He finished the rant and left the room, and I could have sworn I saw something glistening on his cheek.

I sighed, then yawned. This day has been too long. Getting into a comfortable position, I closed my eyes and allowed unconsciousness to take over.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It was around 10 A.M when I finally woke up. I slept comfortably, yesterday was way too long for my liking. I walked into the kitchen to grab some breakfast, spotting Kiba eating his own. He caught my eye, and his eyes were calmer than usual.

"Teima, I'm sorry, but I have to ask.." His tone was anxious, obviously he'd learned to hide his feelings...by face.

"Hm?" I reached in the fridge for some milk, then pulled out the box of cereal. He didn't say anything until I was finished pouring in the milk and cereal into the bowl I found, and putting in the spoon that took me a while to discover where that drawer was.

"Does Shikamaru like you?" I was about to reply smartly, "He's my best friend, what do you think?" but I knew what he meant. I shrugged.

"I'm not a psychic, but we are best friends if that explains anything," I said, munching on my meal afterwards. For the rest of breakfast he was in an okay mood. I was walking over to the sink to put away my dishes when he reminded me of something.

"Oh, that's right, Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, Kakashi, and Shikamaru are all out on a mission today, aren't they?" I paused mid-step. Damn! I wanted to hang out with Shikamaru today. Watch the clouds like we used to, and chat. Create more precious memories. He didn't tell me about this mission...Wait a tick. Aren't they going to go catch an Akatsuki member? No! Nonononononononoonooo. He can't!

I had a bad vibe about this mission. I guarantee something will go wrong.. I just know it. Maybe someone's going to die? Get captured? Injured? I can't be sure, but I don't like this idea at all...Cool it, Tei, they'll be okay. They will... Shikamaru wont let them get hurt. I sighed, then tried to keep my cool.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to go watch the clouds alone," I muttered. Kiba stole the oppurtunity.

"I'll come with you, Teima, even if watching the clouds really isn't my thing." I didn't care. Fine, he could come. I shrugged, and we walked out of the house to spend a day outside. We layed there for hours, chatting, laughing, exchanging random stories and opinions. He was obviously trying to fix the screw-ups he made last night. Which was good, at least we are friends now. Not nearly as fun as Shikamaru, not even close, but I suppose it'll do. At least I know I can feel comfortable in this home now. It was late when we returned.

I flopped on my bed, sighing in contentment. It was a boring day, yes, but one worth having. I realized that Kiba wasn't just some old dog-loving weirdo. He was actually very reliable when it came to keeping secrets, and he promised not to tell anyone about my dad, knowing that I only wanted a select few to know. He had told me his first impression of me when I was new to the academy. According to him, the only people I ever hung out with were Shienna, Shikamaru, and Sasuke. At first he had thought I was just as lazy as my best friend, and very, very weird for hanging out with Shienna, because absolutely no one else hung out with her...with the exception of Rock Lee, and that I was another fangirl because I befriended the only remaining Uchiha in the village. "Makes it even weirder," he had said, shaking his head. I laughed at this memory out loud. I'm that type of girl... to laugh in dead silence at something that happened earlier. But the mention of Shienna had brought the crimson to my eyes again. Every time she was mentioned, this always happened. It totally ruined the moment, but at least his face wasn't shocked. He, having liked me for...years, knew everything that was revealed to him about myself, and that was no secret. Pretty creepy, but convenient. One less shocked face to see. I've always thought that it was my fault that Shienna left the village, and so I've been very, very angry towards myself. Really, I can punish myself mentally for it, calling myself horrible names, and a small thought in the back of my head warned that it could happen with someone else as well. By doing this I worry repeatedly over Shikamaru leaving the village, which was absurd, but it's a possibility in my mind.

Kiba had mentioned Shienna, which got my brain going in all directions, asking questions I would never hope to find out. How has she been doing? Where has she been living? Where is she now? Does she miss me at all? Does she even _remember_ me? Am I still considered a friend to her? And the most worrying question lingered in my head for a long time: Is she still alive, breathing, right now? My imagination ran wild as I thought of my own answers to all of these questions, which eventually wore me out, and I fell asleep quite easily.

Morning, again. Ew. I yawned, lying in my bed, not wanting to get up at all. Typical, I've been best friends with Shikamaru for years. His laziness has been bound to rub off on me someday. I sighed, muttering a mock "Mornings are such a drag," under my breath, mimicking what Shikamaru would usually say in the mornings. I hopped out of bed, threw on fresh clothes, and walked in the direction of the kitchen. What I found wasn't exactly the prettiest sight in the village of Konoha. As soon as I took a step into the living room, Kiba snapped at me to not get involved and that I should just go back to sleep.

I soon discovered that the person I just mocked was arguing, it seemed, with the guy I happened to live with. Shikamaru's face looked displeased, if not more, and Kiba's didn't look any better, actually worse. At Kiba's words Shikamaru's expression soured, and Kiba gazed at me angrily with a very dog-like snarl. Shikamaru's eyes were suddenly in a deathly glare.

"Don't you dare show her such disrespect. She probably slept in," He smirked to himself, knowing that this trait was from him and him only, though now he only slept in on his days off. "She lives here now, doesn't she? And what the hell did she ever do to you? It would be a bother to have to kill you." He turned to me, his expression softening.

"You need to come with me. As soon as possible," he added, glaring coldly in Kiba's direction. Kiba looked ashamed of himself, his snarl back into a sad gaze at my face. His eyes were pleading... probably for forgiveness. I looked at him wearily. What the bloody hell is going on here?

"...Sure." I agreed after a bit, giving Shikamaru a hug. "I've missed you." His arms wrapped around me tightly, protectively.

"Ditto," he said. Kiba didn't take this very well. When I glanced at him, his face was twisted in the expression of pain, and he seemed to be trying his best not to throw something at Shikamaru.

"TEIMA! GET OUT OF HERE! AND TAKE THAT LAZY ASS WITH YOU." Shikamaru took my hand and led me out of the house, apparently I couldn't get out on my own. I was frightened of Kiba, afraid that he would attack me if I moved. We stepped outside and I felt a cool blast of fresh air on my face. It felt good. This morning would have been perfect if Shikamaru was fighting, our shadows were long as we walked in the direction that Shikamaru was going.

"What the hell was going on back there?" I asked.

"We..had..a..er...disagreement. Nothing huge." He was staring at the ground, looking very sad indeed. I was worried.

"Over what?" I asked cautiously, hoping to not sound too nosy. He paused for a moment, as though picking the right words to describe it.

"Over how you feel about the situation in general." He shrugged, and a rosy color dusted his cheeks.

"..Huh? You mean me living with Inuzaka?" He nodded.

"Well...I just thought that...you know..." I waited. Apparently he did think that I know, because he didn't say anything afterwards.

"Go on?" I asked, curious now.

"I just thought that you'd rather live with your best friend than that oversensitive moron. Apparently he thought different, and screamed "SHE LIKES IT HERE. YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE SHE ONLY LIKES YOU AS--" Shikamaru stopped his quote, realizing that he was revealing too much. I was cocking an eyebrow at his words.

"Figures. You see, last night he told me that he... er... felt strongly about me, and pushed his limit." His face hardened at my first words, but he didn't seem to understand the second part.

"He pushed his limit?"

"Yeah...He kissed me," I managed to blurt that out after one hell of a pause. Shikamaru's face hardened again and he looked very, very angry.

"Shikamaru...are you okay? You're acting weird," I complained, hoping to set him straight. Normally he'd joke around about the guys who liked me, and now he's all...serious.

"No, I'm not," He replied, and his tone was harsh. I was a little hurt by the sound of his voice, and I winced. I left him alone, until I realized that we were only a few feet away from a huge building.

"Where exactly are we going?"

"To Konohamaru's house. We'll be doing something there that I think you would appreciate." I nodded timidly, knowing that he's in a bad mood now. We walked straight through the large double doors of the building, and went down what felt like hundreds of steps. We finally reached the bottom, and Tsunade-sama was there, waiting. She seemed to be surprised at the sight of me.

"Tsunade-sama, I request for the permission that Teima could acquaint me into the questioning of Shienna." He was directly to the point, and very thorough with his question. He must've felt that this would increase his chances, and it did. She nodded, and opened the door, revealing a sight that would scar me for as long as I live.

Kakashi was holding a girl very...very awkwardly. His hands were tucked in the middle of her abdomen, his head resting on her shoulder. At this sight I blushed, and said "Kakashi-sensei...!" in a hushed voice. I was really embarassed. Shikamaru spoke first.

"Shienna, you're awake, correct?" The girl sighed, and I started. I thought she was sleeping? My eyes widened as I continued to gaze at this girl. This... is Shienna? The girl sighed yet again and replied in a cracked voice, apparently she hadn't used it for a few hours and she was parched by the looks of her dry lips.

"Sadly, yes, Shikamaru. I am alive and well when I should have been left for dead." She opened an eye to have a peek at her visitors, and Shikamaru responded smartly.

"Good. Because we've stopped by for a 'visit'." Under his breath, I could've sworn I heard, "Is this what his books are promoting him to do with his free time and captured women?" And laughed at it. Shienna laughed, but it probably wasn't from Shikamaru's comment. "What was that all about?" He asked. I wondered how long his horrible mood would last.

"I was just thinking of the time when Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke tried to take off Kakashi's mask... I could do it now, but maybe not." I grinned. I, too, have always wondered what in the world is under that troublesome mask of his. Shit, Shikamaru's rubbing off on me. I better get my own personality here. Shienna was just smiling at Shikamaru. I decided to say something after Shikamaru nudged me and whispered, "I refuse to do all of this on my own. I brought you here for a reason, you know!" But I was still in some kind of stupid daze. Still, I obeyed Shikamaru's wishes.

"S-Shienna...is it really you?" Shienna lifted her hand and started poking it.

"I think so." I giggled, thankful for the non-pressuring reassurance. Shikamaru stomped his foot angrily.

"We don't have time for pointless questions, Teima!! I didn't bring you here for nothing! This is called information gathering, haven't you ever heard of it?!" Apparently, my stupidity made him snap. I deserve it, I'm just being useless anyways. "What a bother," he sighed, and crossed his arms. "Alright, we have some questions for you." At this Shienna frowned. Maybe she didn't like that idea? I don't know what to think, I've already been proven damn useless.

Shienna had started spacing out for a while, and Shikamaru, being as impatient as he is, cleared his throat. Kakashi suddenly woke up, then almost immediately at the sight of Shikamaru and I his face was turning beet-red. He hid himself behind Shienna, and she looked at him with a scared and worried expression.

"Kakashi?" She asked timidly. Did they...do it? I raised an eyebrow at the same time as Shikamaru. Heh. Probably thought the same thing. Kakashi laughed nervously then lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head.

"This truly isn't what it looks like. I swear!" He promised, though not very convincingly. At all. A small silence crept between us all, then Shikamaru broke the golden awkwardness.

"If it's not what it looks like, why don't you get off of her?" Kakashi raised his arms in a surrendering fashion.

"I knew I would have to take a bath in bleach.." I gasped, and Shikamaru's eyes widened.

"So you did do nasty things to her!" I shouted, hearing another voice cry the same words. We've been doing a lot of things 'in unison' lately, and I looked at him weirdly to find him looking at me in the same way. I burst out laughing at our stupidity, and Shikamaru cracked a smile. At least his mood was lifted a little. I glanced at Shienna, expecting an amused expression, but only found pain in my friend's face. I stood there, watching Kakashi put his hand to her face. He then lifted her off him, and...chained her up? What? What is he doing?! My train of thought started up again, the whistle blowing and the smoke starting to pump. Kakashi looked at her sorrowfully and left her reaching for him, an anxious expression on her face. What in the world went on between them? I heard Kakashi's familiar voice outside the door.

"I didn't do anything to her, I swear!!" He repeated what he claimed earlier, and I heard the distinct sound of running footsteps. Of course he would be embarassed. I sighed. It would be a long time before we'll get out of here. I sat down, then glanced up to look at Shikamaru to find the ceiling. Then I looked down, and found him sharing my bewildered expression. We sat down _in unison._ Again, with the unison crap! This is ridiculous! Shikamaru shook his head, and started off with the questions.

"Shienna, why did you leave?" She sighed in an annoyed manner, apparently this question has been asked before and she didn't want to hear it again. She then pointed to a small scab on her head.

"This is what happens when I come back... someone gets hurt. Emotionally or physically, I've gotten the worst of both." At this, Shikamaru was irritated.

"Well look at the other people you hurt! Look at me! And Teima! And.. and Naruto!" Shienna started playing the wonderful game of sarcasm.

"Yeah, they are somewhat happy that I'm back… look at Sakura! She looovveeess that I'm back, she loves it so much that she snaps and slaps me like I'm her bitch, hits my head and starts to cry because of stupid Sasuke! I didn't do anything to her! Nothing at all! And then she treats me with this shit!" Shienna gave out a distinct huff, and I instantly felt sorry for something I didn't do.

"Look at my eyes! Does it look like I'm the same as everyone else? I bet not. Because.." Shienna started to reach for Shikamaru's hand, and his eyes widened slightly as she winced in pain, then continued to grab his hand and force him to trace the black rims around her golden-flecked eyes. "It isn't make up! It isn't make believe! I ran away because I'm a monster! None of you except Gaara and Naruto would know what this is like!" Shikamaru looked like he just got slapped in the face, and I was shocked. I slumped in my chair, eyes as wide as they could get. I stared at the ground.

"I thought...it was all my fault..." I saw water fill up my eyes to the brim, and Shikamaru looked at me sadly. He was aware of this, and I've been stressing over it all of these years. He knew of the mental punishment I would put myself through. Suddenly a wave of shock went through him, and his eyes widened. Instantly he knew what was around her neck.

"Is that an electric collar?" He whispered, staring at her neck.

"More like an electric hell..." Shienna mumbled in response. She let go of Shikamaru's hand and sighed contentedly. Shikamaru cleared his throat. I glanced at him. He better not say anything to hurt her. Sure, I'll forgive him soon enough, it's hard not to... but I might lose it on him if she is hurt.

"Now, let's get down to business." Oh boy. Why does he have to be so serious?

"Where are the Akatsuki now?" Shienna's gaze rested on mine, she was avoiding the question, looking at me with envious eyes. Shikamaru's impatience wouldn't allow it though, and he could tell that she was out of it. His voice rose so that she could hear.

"Shienna, are you even listening to me?!" Shienna chuckled.

"No, I'm not." A smile played against my lips, and I felt them crack. Chapped. I licked the blood off of them, then watched Shikamaru like a hawk. He rose from his spot and angrily stomped in Shienna's direction.

"THIS IS SO GODDAMN TROUBLESOME!" He shouted at her, glaring. He grabbed the collar of Shienna's tank top, knuckles turning a whiter color by the second. Instinctively I got up and went over to him, and grabbed his wrist. No way in hell was he going to hurt her in front of _me._ Shienna paled.

"Who changed me?" Shikamaru's face fell to stare at my hand around his wrist, clenching him tightly. He then lifted his face to hers, and looked down at her like a wolf spotting it's kill. I muttered, "Shikamaru," in a warning tone under my breath. He better not. Oh no he better not. As I grasped his wrist, his hand was turning a white color. Heh. Woops. I guess I'm cutting off his circulation.

"Are you going to hurt me? Please let me know so I can brace myself.." At this, I nudged Shikamaru, letting him know that I was still there. He knows my limits.. and I'm reaching them. He let go of Shienna's shirt, and took a step back.

"Damn it all...Shienna I don't know who changed you...and I don't want to know." Shienna reached into her pocket, feeling for something. I let go of Shikamaru's wrist and he rubbed it, trying to help the flow get back into his hand. He looked at me with the same eyes he looked at Shienna. They were scary...dangerous, almost. Shienna raised her finger to her cheekbone to think outloud.

"You know...I'm a prisoner, I have no rights, and..." She was cut off by something, and quickly moved to hug her knees, preparing for something unkown to me.

"Do you want me to break down?! To spill out everything?!" I knew what she meant, but Shikamaru got the wrong drift.

"YES! I WANT YOU TO SPILL OUT EVERYTHING!" I put my face in my hands, not wanting to watch. Shikamaru...what an idiot.. It was then that I heard her voice.

"Fine, let God have mercy on my soul." I heard chains clinking, then a cough, and then a scream. Frantically I looked at her, watching the scene, horror creeping through my body. She fell to the floor, and cried a tear.

"There, you happy now world… I put forth a tear to quench your selfish thirst! There world, you can see all of this pain that was under that mask…" She repeatedly whispered that over and over. Shikamaru and I watched her with surprised expressions. There must be something I could do.

"There you go, now let me die.." Instantly I shouted "NO." Stupid instincts. I should've kept it to myself, but I couldn't. She can't die on me. Not while I could do something. She continued to curl up tighter and tighter, screaming in pain, writhing. Tears flowed, making their own small lake on the cement floor.

"Nara Shikamaru, you made Shienna cry. You out of all people…. I can't say I share her pain, but this… she tried so hard to keep this away from us, but she was hurting herself… to keep us away from the stinging pain. And...and..you..." I couldn't finish, the damage was done. I glanced at him, the anger taking over. Shikamaru looked like I just slapped him in the face. He's never hurt a girl in his life, never made one cry.. and now a girl was crying. Because of him. I ran over to Shienna, placing a hand on her shoulder. He came over and crouched down, gazing at Shienna with regretful eyes.

"I'm so sorry Shienna, I forgot we were really good friends. I was so focused on the mission that I forgot... Damn, what a drag." Drag is right. He'll regret this later, if he wont already. Shienna's body was trembling as she spoke.

" Is this how every one is going to feel towards me… beat the shit out of me then say, 'oh, well I'm sorry for doing this now your crying?'" She coughed up more blood. Shienna curled up tighter, and a wave of shock flew through her body to reach my hand.

"Ow! What was--- Is this what they're doing to you?! This is inhumane, no human should go through this!" I shouted, not meaning to, rubbing my hand.

"That's why they put it on," She whispered. Sand was lifted from her shoulders...Gaara's sand? What'd he want..?

I wanted those chains off of her. Now. But her body comes first. I attempted the basic medical ninjutsu Tsunade taught me when I was still interested, and Shienna shook her head.

"Any chakra that flows into me will only be taken out." I stopped, lost. It was then that I realized that there was nothing I could do for my friend, except watch...Shikamaru shot up from where he sat, and headed for the door. He threw it open, and demanded for Tsunade to take off the chains.

"No can do, Shikamaru. not until you can get every drop of information out of her." Shikamaru then ordered for her to look at the wreck of my friend. A bloody, crying, trembling mess that could have been mistaken for dead.

"Looks like she'll talk now." Shikamaru gave her a cold look, and shut the door. He strode over and sat next to me, angry with himself. Defeated. If he had an IQ of over 200, shouldn't he be able to think of something? I looked at him hopefully.

"What'd she say?" I knew what she said, but right then I hoped that I had a hearing problem. He crossed his arms, getting an attitude.

"That woman is so troublesome, getting wasted out there, while someone's dying here." I sadly looked down. So I wasn't mistaken. Dammit. I don't want to lose her..

I sighed, and the breath was caught by a lump in my throat. I leaned over to hug Shienna, it could be the last time. I managed to whisper "I missed you," in her ear, choking up with my tears. Ah crap. I better cheer up. Me crying wont help matters. Shikamaru will probably just be annoyed and Shienna would just sit there, probably thinking that it's her fault that I'm crying or something..Ignoring the waves of shock that woke up the cells in my body, making me wince in pain, I continued to hold her there. I at least wanted to comfort her... I refuse to be as useless as Sakura used to be.

Maybe she could stay here in Konoha. Then she wouldn't be any threat at all to the village, and Tsunade would have no choice but to let her out of the chains... She could stay with me and Kiba.. or..someone.. At least she'll be saved, even if she does manage to leave the village again to join the Akatsuki. I don't know how much they mean to her, exactly, but I've got a pretty good idea. She's been alone for a while, and they're the first to take her in as a real person.. she must care for them, and there's nothing I could do about it. Shikamaru let out an annoyed sigh.

"The only way we can get this off of you is to get the information we need." Information, eh? Shienna slumped slightly, calming down. I could feel the muscles relax... I was still clinging to her.

"Okay, ask me stuff, but don't blame me for not answering them.." I spoke up.

"After you left...Where did you go for all of those years?" This was a question of curiousity, I don't care for information gathering right now. She got up, and I continued to hug her.

"I camped out at the Grass Village, as an assassin. I worked there for a while.. until I got lost, aimlessly walking, when the Akatsuki came and gave me a home there. They didn't try to kill me, nor were they rude. We shared each other's pain." Ah, so I was right after all. Shikamaru spoke next.

"Where are they now?" She tried to force a smile, but she couldn't.

"I don't know, they could have left. I know they were north of us, but I got lost." I hugged her tighter, then asked the question.

"Maybe she could stay with me and Kiba in Konoha...forever?" I said the last word with plead in my voice. I don't want her to go. Shikamaru thought about this for a while.

"That might not be a good idea, she has developed feelings for her Akatsuki mates and might go back." Shienna froze under my embrace.

"Kisame, Deidara, Zetsu.." She shook her head and looked up at Shikamaru.

"Is there anything else you need to know?" Shikamaru seemed to have one last thought on his mind.

"Yeah, what were they planning?" Shienna thought for a bit, then shook her head.

"I don't know, they never told me." Shikamaru gave her a faint smile.

"Thanks, that's all we needed to know." Shikamaru looked at me with an exhausted expression.

"Teima, we should go." I looked down at Shienna, Shikamaru's eyes still on my face as it probably twisted to show the way I felt about that. I quietly agreed, and squeezed her hand one last time. Shikamaru lended me a hand to get up, and he led me out of the room, not letting go of my hand, knowing that I'd run back to Shienna as soon as he was out the door. Tsunade was right out the door, still not drunk, though holding her bottle of sake tightly.

"We got all that we could," Shikamaru informed, not letting go of my hand, try as hard as I might to squeeze it out. Tsunade nodded.

"Tsunade-sama...She doesn't know much. I was thinking...maybe...just maybe...she could stay with Kiba and me?" Again, I was pleading. Immediately Tsunade shook her head.

"That's out of the question; she'd leave again if she gets the chance. We'll just keep her under watch for a while." Damn! Why can't things go as planned. I sighed sadly, and Shikamaru led me up those never-ending stairs and out the door to find darkness all around us. I welcomed the moon, the crescent giving us light as Shikamaru led me in the direction of his house.

"Shikamaru..Kiba's house is that way." I pointed to our left, and he held my hand tighter.

"Yeah, but we're going this way." I pouted. I haven't seen Ekitai all day, and she's with Kiba. Before my house caught fire, and my ... okay, let's not go there. But before all that Ekitai and I were inseparable...what happened? I frowned.

"Shikamaru, Ekitai's with Kiba." He didn't understand.

"Good, he knows how to take care of a dog." I'm getting impatient..!

"Shikamaru! I need to see her!" He stopped in his tracks, and let go of my hand to cross his arms.

"You just want to see Inuzaka again, don't you?!" I stared at him, stumped. Why would I want to see him?

"No. You've got the wrong idea."

"Uh. No. You do, Teima." His face was hardened again, like earlier this morning..

"What idea do you think I have?" He didn't answer, and he looked away. I watched him for a long time, and it irritated him. He finally answered.

"You think I'm jealous, don't you? Well I'm not. You're wrong." My eyebrows creased into my forehead. Where the hell did he get that idea? Now my arms were crossed.

"Where are you getting that? You're not jealous of Inuzaka...are you? You're my best friend. Not him...right?" He looked at me, his lip still out as though denying something. I grinned. Is he seriously jealous?

"Yeah...but he got your first ki---" My eyebrows shot up, and he quickly stopped. It was kind of hard to tell in moonlight, but I was pretty sure he was blushing like crazy.

"What was that? My first ki? I don't have a ki." I was smirking now, knowing what he was going to say.

"No, no. Your first--- Nevermind." He jut out his bottom lip again and turned his head away from me, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Just come with me," He pleaded, as though the world depended on me going to his house. I shrugged.

"Fine, as long as you're happy, I suppose." He brightened up, and took my hand again, as though I needed direction. I looked around, realizing that I didn't know where we were. Damn, he's good.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It wasn't long before we reached his house, and by then I was trying my best but failing to hold back my tears. He led me into his room and set me down on his bed, and I could feel his weight on his bed as he sat down to watch me cry. I cried for my dad, and my burnt down home where I had so many memories. I cried for Shienna and her situation, I cried because of the need of having my dad back. When I finally stopped, I probably looked pathetic. I cried everywhere, tear streaks stained my face and the teardrops stained my clothes and my hands. I glanced to my left to see Shikamaru just sitting there, waiting for me to stop. He didn't look too happy himself. I wiped away the last of my tears, and put on a big smile.

"Well, that was a good cry. Eheh." Shikamaru was staring at the ground.

"You don't need to smile for me, Teima. It's alright to cry. It's probably good, too. Letting out that stress that you hid inside you so nobody would pity you. Am I right?" Ack. He's scary good.

"Maybe." My response is probably what told him that I'm done crying for now. He finally looked at me, and seemed to regret it. I looked in his mirror across the room. My eyes were puffy, my long straight blonde hair a huge mess. My face was red, and as I looked at my reflection, I could see plenty of sadness in my eyes. I wondered why that was...I'm fine now.

"Teima, I think Kiba will survive without you for one night. And besides, he didn't seem to be happy with you when we left," His eyes narrowed as he said the last few words, and his hands clenched into fists. I didn't need any persuasion. I want to stay here...for good. Maybe I could persuade Tsunade somehow.. Shikamaru's a hell lot better of a friend anyway. At least _he _didn't kiss me! Though I wouldn't mind...Wait, what?

He was pulling out his sleeping bag again, like the other night. I was about ready to leap onto it when he plopped onto it himself.

"Nuh-uh. You're not pulling that one again." I put on a sad face.

"Aww...But..but.." I pretended to cry again, and he got up, thinking that he actually made me cry. Stealing the oppurtunity, I jumped onto it and layed down on it before he could say anything. He looked at me thoughtfully.

"Why don't we go up to the roof and watch the clouds?" I got up eagerly, and nodded. I led the way through the house and then up the stairs, into the attic, and through the trap door in the ceiling, climbing up to his roof. The crescent that was above us shone brightly, I could see a lot from here.

"It's been a while since we've done this," I remarked cheerfully. We both lay down and put our hands behind our heads in unison. He looked over to me and smiled.

"Yeah, it has." he agreed. He closed his eyes, still smiling.

"I'm sorry about breaking down earlier..that was stupid of me. I must've been pretty pathetic." His smile faded.

"It's fine. I'm your friend, it's what I'm here for. You don't need to apologize.. and you didn't look pathetic. Just...in pain." He said "in pain" as though it hurt him. We both gazed over the houses of the village, when suddenly there was a tall shape on top of Konohamaru's house. I pointed, noticing the silver hair that shone like a star in the bright moonlight.

"Is that Kakashi-sensei?" Shikamaru seemed to have already noticed, and he was sitting up straight, squinting at the figure as it darted from house to house in the direction to one in the far south.

"Yeah.. I think so. He seems to be holding something." I nodded, confused. Why would he be out this late at night?

"Hey.. I think that's Shienna!" Shikamaru exclaimed excitedly.

"He's helping her out?" I gasped. Thank God! Hopefully that electric piece of shit would be off since she's with Kakashi now. Shikamaru nodded.

"Hmm... Well. Why'd you want me over here anyway?" The bottom lip was out again, it's probably a habit now. He took out a cigarette and a lighter, and was about to light it up when I slapped his hand.

"No drugs for you!" I teased, slapping the cigarette away but keeping a hold of the lighter. I layed back down, playing with it, and Shikamaru pouted.

"I just wanted to see Asuma-sensei for advice.." He whined.

"Advice?" I asked, messing around with the little fire that was in my hands. I twirled it round and round in the air, light enough so that it wouldn't go out. I picked up a random bug near me, and stuck it out to roast in my mini fire. Shikamaru shook his head like I'm some kind of stupid idiot.

"Yeah... on how to respond to your question. I don't really know how to explain why I want you over. I just do, is that alright?" I nodded, smirking, listening to the hiss of roasting mass. He stole the lighter away from me, and I frowned. Shikamaru took out another cigarette and smoked for about 5 minutes before he spat it out in disgust.

"I am NOT jealous!" He hissed, glaring at the faintly glowing cigarette below. I raised an eyebrow, and then layed back to begin imagining shapes in the clouds of the night. He was watching me.

"You didn't hear that." I laughed.

"Of course not, m'dear." He seemed to like the "m'dear," though it was pretty random. I normally say whatever comes to mind.

Suddenly there was a loud yelp from somewhere in the village.

"That sounded like...a dog," I declared.

"Nice job, smart one." He was smiling at me, chuckling, as though the animal that made the sound was pretty obvious. A very loud whine and yet another yelp quickly followed his words. I looked over in the direction of all of the noise, worried. It sounded like a small dog, and it came from the direction of Kiba's house.

"I'm going to go see what's up." I stated, and crouched down, about to leap from roof to roof when Shikamaru stopped me with his hand on my shoulder.

"You're not going anywhere in the dead of the night alone, young lady." I burst out laughing.

"Why not? There can't be any threat. Just a dog." I didn't want him to come. What if there was danger? I don't want him involved. He took a moment to place his hands on his hips to give me a look like "Are you STUPID?"

"Teima Ryuka, that has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. 'Just a dog'? Where there's whines and yelps, there's more than just a dog." I raised myself to copy his stance.

"Shikamaru Nara, I am not a baby. That has to be the stupidest way anyone has treated me. I can take care of myself, thanks." I raised a fist, and focused my chakra on it like Sakura would when she prepared for a powerful punch. Truth is, I can do that too. She's nothing special. I bet anyone could do that. Shikamaru took a step back, eyes widened in slight surprise, but remained in the argument.

"And Teima Ryuka, I, as your best friend, refuse to let you go alone." When my eyes flashed crimson, he still held his ground. Ugh! What a stubborn fool!

"Shikamaru NARA, I, as YOUR best friend, refuse to let you go with me!" My breaths became fast as anger swelled up a large bubble inside of me. He crossed his arms, saying that his desicion was final.

"Just let me go, would you? Jeez, I must really be bad then," I paused for a moment and felt heat rising to my face. He's not bad...I just don't want him hurt.. But I wont let him know that. Nopesirree.. Before he could say anything more, I leaped a long distance, pushing myself with my chakra focused at the bottom of my feet, kicking up leaves as I went. I glanced back to find Shikamaru flying behind me. I groaned.

"Let me do this alone!" I shouted, pressing harder on every roof.

"Nope!" He shouted back, and somehow, he caught up with me,shoving me downwards onto a roof, spreading his legs and flying over me so that he was ahead. He turned to face me. We were two houses apart. I glared at him.

"Why are you being so goddamn stubborn?" I spat.

"I would like to ask the same thing," he replied.

"Just go home," I muttered, though loud enough for him to hear.

"No." I raised an eyebrow.

"You wanna have a go? I'll make you," I challenged.

"I don't think it'd be wise on your part to try." He lifted his arms as though to present something, and I looked around. Shadows. Everywhere. Normally they were welcoming, but I shuddered at the thought of trying to force Shikamaru here. I crouched down where I stood and squinted. I could barely see Kiba's house... no lights were on. He must be sleeping.. but I still want to see Ekitai. Shikamaru caught me gazing at the house of the Inuzakas.

"Miss him?" He asked this warily, expecting me to answer as he thought I would.

"Hell no," I responded. "I'm with the person I want to be with." He seemed surprised, sure enough, but he didn't cut me any slack.

"Then why are you trying to push that person away? He doesn't want to go," Shikamaru spoke in third person, and I found this amusing. If I told him the truth he'd be insulted...hmn... I'll do it anyway.

"Because I'm worried about your safety." Ah, truth hurts. He glared at me.

"_My_ safety? It's yours that I'm worried about here," Oh. He let out the truth too. Hm.

"This is stupid, why are we arguing?" I asked. It was a rhetorical question, but he responded anyway.

"Because a certain someone wont let me--" I had gotten behind him so quickly that I was a mere blur, and I covered his mouth with my hand. His warm breath came out his nose a little faster than usual, and I felt some heat emitting from his face. I had heard something fall in the roads below. It was small, but I was sure it was from a person. A footstep behind me? Quickly I leaped to a house to the left, taking Shikamaru with me. I removed my hand from his face, and he was glaring at the figure on the rooftop we were just on. The figure seemed to be holding two bodies, both injured badly. One was large, probably a human's, but the other was really small, and had wings..

I gasped. Ekitai! A cloud moved away from the moon so that there was more light, and I could see the face of Inuzaka Kiba down at the feet of the man who was holding him up by the foot. The guy had hair like a cockatoo..

Sasuke.

"I came looking for a dadless little girl, and I found these two," The runaway avenger said coldly but carelessly. Without any effort he threw both bodies in the direction of another house. I moved in a flash to catch them, and I managed to grab Ekitai and Kiba before they hit anything. Shikamaru was watching Sasuke, glancing at me every 5 seconds. I stroked Ekitai's fur, she was out cold... but she's not dead. I could tell. Kiba was still breathing, too. I left them there, and went back to Shikamaru.

The second I reached the roof, Shikamaru put his arm around me protectively.

"He's after you, Tei." He whispered. Sasuke caught it.

"Oh, someone's the smartie, uhm...what was your name again? Shitamaru?" Shikamaru's grip tightened on my waist as anger creeped up on him. Sasuke was getting on my last nerve too. How dare he treat my best friend so disrespectfully after hurting my dog and another friend! He used to be a great friend of mine, but now I'm not so sure.

"If I'm all you want, then go ahead. Don't hurt anyone else, though, or you'll be SO sorry," I warned. Shikamaru then stood in front of me, but it was pointless. Sasuke was behind me with a kunai against my neck before I could blink. The weapon pierced my skin only the slightest bit, and a trickle of blood ran down the metal. When Shikamaru turned around, Sasuke was holding me close to his body, the kunai threatening my life. It was at a vital point. One little stab and I would die.

Sasuke seemed to be enjoying his part, wrapping one arm around my waist, clinging tightly, and using the other as a horrible threat with the kunai he held. He turned me around swiftly and before I could even think, something cold and rough was on my lips. I realized that he was kissing me. Why must people do that these days? I'm not a kissing booth.

"You're mine," he whispered in my ear fiercely, and he gripped my side so tightly that it was painful, turning me around to face Shikamaru again. I mouthed 'Ow,' and Shikamaru's shocked and pained face twisted into a cold, hateful expression.

"Don't go with him, Tei," His voice hinted malice, but I could hear plead as he stared at the scene before him. He really was scared that Sasuke would kill me, I could see it in his eyes. Though as each minute passed, the knife dug a little deeper.

"If you try to stop her from going, you'll die," Sasuke said as though it were a fact. I paused, wanting to slap him, but decided against it, realizing my situation wrong now. One wrong move and either I or Shikamaru will be hurt.

"I thought I had a year?" Sasuke looked at me with a smile.

"Oh, but I couldn't wait that long..much too long to wait. But it is your choice. You could come with me now.. or... now. Which do you choose?"

"Stop playing games. I...I'll go get my dad later. Let me go...OUCH!" I yelled, his grip somehow got tighter around my waist. That'll leave marks. I looked up to see Shikamaru doing handsigns. Sasuke dodged every shadow he could as the dark outlines chased him, dragging me with him. Scenery of the village flew past my eyes as I travelled at the speed of Sasuke. Thankfully, there were a lot of shadows, and Sasuke was eventually caught. I'm glad I didn't try to force Shikamaru to go home, he really had an advantage here. Sasuke muttered "Shit," under his breath as Shikamaru made him loosen his grip on me. I quickly escaped, and went to pick up Ekitai and Kiba. They were both still unconscious, and damn Kiba's heavy.

I moved quickly, I didn't want to leave Shikamaru to fight on his own. Not with Sasuke. I left the two inside Kiba's house, and sprinted to Shikamaru's aid. I noticed thicker clouds coming in, probably rainclouds. Yes. Perfect. Though it's difficult to fight without Ekitai..

I performed the five water element hand signs, and shouted "Water Art Jutsu!" As I ran. A wolf was in mind, running at my side to the left. Water collected from the clouds and nearby plants, and soon there was enough for the body of the Water-wolf.

"Bare your teeth and sharpen your claws upon that victim!" I shouted, pointing at Sasuke, then making more hand signs of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. I said the jutsu aloud, and there were now 7 other mes at my side. We all attacked Sasuke from different directions, holding him down even though Shikamaru still had a hold of him. A few small sweat beads rolled down Shikamaru's cheek. "LET GO!" I shouted, and with a relieved sigh he released his jutsu at the same moment the water wolf attacked. The six mes that were holding Sasuke down vanished, and when the smoke cleared, Sasuke was gone too.

Shikamaru looked at me with a small smile.

"He's gone for now..though I doubt this is over. I TOLD you that you can't go out in the dead of night alone!" He frowned, but couldn't hold it, because pretty soon he was clinging to me and smiling. He sighed with relief. "I thought you'd leave.." His eyes were glistening for a while before he finally let the tears fall. "I really did. I'm so stupid, I should've known you wouldn't leave me here." I nodded.

"Yeah, you're stupid!" There was a slight pause before I smiled.

"What's wrong?" He let go of me to gaze at my face.

"You don't know how tempting that was.." I whispered.

"Tempting? You mean Sasuke?!" He growled.

"No..leaving just so that you wouldn't be in danger... and it would've been a quicker route to dad.." I gazed at my feet, but I couldn't do that anymore when Shikamaru took two fingers to raise my chin to look at his face.

"Do you even know how much danger you were IN? Look at your neck!" He took a moment to look at my neck, and I looked at him stupidly.

"Oh yeah, Shika, I can really look at my neck now. Yup." I tried to turn my head to the right, as a tester, but it was very, very painful when I did. He sighed.

"Let's go get your dog and head back to my place," He suggested. I nodded, and rushed in the direction of Kiba's house.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Sadly, Kiba was awake when we got there. He was sitting on his couch, waiting nervously for something. When I walked in the door, he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank God you're alive! You wouldn't believe what happened," he started, and I opened my mouth to say something but he cut me off.

"What happened to your neck?" he pointed it at it, and then he leaned in towards it. I felt something wet against my neck, and then a world of pain right afterwards. Did he just LICK my wound?! Shikamaru walked in the door as I pushed him away, hard, and Kiba fell back into a wall, licking his lips.

"You sure taste good. No really, what happened?" I clutched the spot that a kunai dug into and a boy licked. I winced, hating the pain, when I responded. Shikamaru glared at him.

"I found Sasuke holding up you and Ekitai, saying that he was looking for me, then I saved you, went back to fight him, as soon as we got a hold of him he disappeared...and he got a hold of me before that." I pointed to the spot on my neck, grossed out, and Shikamaru leaned over to look at it. He must've saw the saliva because his face wrinkled in disgust.

"What'd he do to you!?" I snorted.

"Licked my wound, and DAMN IT FUCKING HURTS!" I shouted, another round of pain shot at me. Kiba walked over, a worried look on his face. Shikamaru stepped in front of him, and punched him in the face.

"Again, you went too far. Look at what you did!" He pointed at me, I was sitting on the couch mouthing 'Ow' repeatedly as my skin touched the licked wound, though I didn't want to let go. I had no idea what happened, but the wound was slightly leaking blood again, and soon it was all over my palms. Kiba and Shikamaru stared, Kiba clutching his bloody nose, and Shikamaru holding his own bloody fist at his side. He must have hit him hard. I kept my hand there, flowing chakra into the wound, trying to repair it with my weak medical skills. I only managed a scab, but that would do.

Another pain. Agh! Sasuke! I lifted my shirt slightly to have a look at my side, and like I guessed earlier, five black and blue bruises, slightly bigger than Sasuke's fingers were along my left side. I was nearly out of chakra, and I didn't want to waste it on myself, so I went over to Shikamaru to get new skin over his bloody hand. I had to limp a little. How did I ignore this before?!

"Did Sasuke do that to you?" Kiba asked. Shikamaru looked at him like he was the most idiotic person on the planet.

"No, Naruto came up, clutched her side so hard she's got fucking _marks_, and sliced her throat a little but enough to cause a lot of pain. YES, Sasuke did! You are such a drag!" Kiba lost his patience. He turned around and moved his arm, quickly balling his hand into a fist. I ran in between them to protect Shikamaru, and threw out a hand to protect myself. A hard blow hit my hand, forcing it too far back. I heard an audible _snap_ as Kiba broke my hand. I yowled in pain, and heard Shikamaru yelling something at Kiba, and Kiba didn't respond, probably watching me with a shocked face. I tried not to scream, but it was pretty damn hard. I felt hands lifting me up, and a reassuring voice, then I was led outside, then picked up bridal style. I felt cool air in my face, and the person held me tightly, making me wince at the bruises that were there. I opened one eye and looked up to see who my savior was, noticing that we were flying through the air.

Shikamaru. Thank God. He ran me inside the hospital and demanded immediate medical attention for me. It wasn't that serious..

"Shikamaru," I choked, my throat was dry.

"What? What do you need?" I grinned slightly.

"You to not worry so much. I'm f- OW." I was about to wave my hand as a gesture that I was okay, but I waved the wrong one.

"Fow, huh? Nice." Some nurse came to get me to put in a room. Shikamaru followed, and when the nurse opened the door, I was surprised to find Tsunade-sama herself in there.

"So. I hear you met up with Uchiha." I nodded, wondering how word gets around so fast. "Is this the result?" She pointed at my hand. I shook my head.

"No, that's the result of stupidity. This," I pointed to my neck, "And this," I lifted my shirt a little to reveal the bruises, "Are the result of Uchiha."

"What happened?" She looked at me funny. "Tell me how you got these wounds while I work on your hand." I nodded. She had to reset it, I knew, and it hurt a lot when she did so. I told her all that happened, Shikamaru filling in for me when I paused to deal with the pain. Afterwards she wrapped my hand in a cast, then set to work on my neck. Tsunade started talking to Shikamaru as she worked.

"So her breaking her hand... was it your fault? Or am I missing something here?" I butted in.

"My fault. Like I said, stupidity. I didn't want Shikamaru to get hurt, so..." Shikamaru was watching me, it was obvious that he was wondering _why_ I would do that. He might as well have written it on his forehead in black for all to see, for pete's sake. I gave him a mock glare.

"What, I can't care about my best friend anymore? That's kinda harsh," I complained. He laughed.

"You're right. I'd take a stab to the heart for you, Tei, if I had to." Tsunade raised her eyebrows, we both knew that that one was a bit extreme.

"Really now," I continued the conversation, happy that Tsunade was almost done working on my neck.

"My word, Teima, Sasuke went through 2 layers of your skin.." Tsunade commented. I blinked at her stupidly.

"Seriously? That's all?" Shikamaru came over in a hurry to have a look. He seemed satisfied, Tsunade must be doing a pretty good job. Tsunade nodded.

"And...done! Now, on to your bruises.." I shook my head.

"No, those are fine, thank you though, I really appreciate your help." Tsunade checked me over.

"Walk," She commanded. I did as told, wincing as I tried not to limp, but failed at last minute.

"You're limping. We can't have that." She came over to me and had me stop, then suddenly there was chakra atop her fingers when she raised a hand. She lightly pressed them on my side, keeping them there for a few minutes. When she was finished, I felt much better, besides the stiffness with the cast.

Afterwards, Shikamaru walked me over to Kiba's house, and he promised that we'd hang out the next day. I nodded, and hugged him goodbye before I went inside. It was dark, and quiet. I peeked inside the room where the dogs stayed, and Ekitai leaped onto me, licking my face. She was healed. Kiba...

I picked her up, and looked inside Kiba's room to find him sleeping. I was hypnotized by his breathing pattern, and after a few minutes I crept into my bedroom to get into my pajamas, crawl into my bed, and fall asleep with Ekitai at my feet.

The next morning, Shikamaru came over so that we could hang out, like he promised. Shikamaru and I wandered through the village, aimlessly walking towards nothing in particular. It was around the time that we circled the ramen shop for the 4th time that I wanted to do something else.

"Shikamaru, want to go watch them clouds?" He nodded, bored. I walked in front, and led him out of the village in the direction where Shienna and I used to watch clouds together. I saw two figures, both with silverish hair. I pointed.

"Why're they here? This is mine and Shienna's spot.." Shikamaru shrugged and went in the direction anyway. As we got closer I realized that it was Shienna and Kakashi.

"Yo! We saw you kidnap Shienna last night!" I smiled huge, waving, as I said this when we reached them. Shikamaru nodded.

"We both did," He corrected.

"Psh, whatever." Shienna was in some daze, and gave us the peace sign. I grinned, and gave her the peace sign back. I lay next to Shienna, noticing that she still had her collar on.

"Hey! I thought that piece of shit was supposed to come off!" I complained. Shikamaru huffed, irritated.

"Don't you get it, Tei? Kakashi took her away too early. She'll have it off soon enough." I looked at my best friend, observing.

"You're not in a very good mood," I remarked, as though accusing him of something.

"..About that," Shienna said, still watching the clouds.

"It's like being under house arrest without the house part," She looked down sadly. "Like a dog on a leash." I gazed at Shienna sympathetically, and leaned over her to poke Kakashi with my good hand. Shikamaru watched me lazily, prepared to catch me if I fell since I was using my elbow for support.

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. You alive?" I poked him again, this time in the face. He seemed dead.

"Ah, leave him alone, Tei. He's fine. Now get back over here," he grumbled, rolling over to pull me back. I gave out a fake screech, and waved my arms frantically, as though some monster got me. He didn't seem to like my squirming, and pulled me back in a hurry.

"You can be so troublesome!" he muttered, holding both arms down to keep me still. He was nearly on top of me now, and I gave him a funny look.

"Yup. Bad mood. Fer sure."

"I feel more alive today than ever," Kakashi mumbled. Shienna looked from Shikamaru and I to Kakashi, furrowed her brows, and did a shifty eye thing before going back to watching the clouds. I looked back over to Kakashi with raised eyebrows and stopped my squirming for a second.

"Really now. You sure don't look like it," I commented. Shikamaru tightened his grip on me, careful of my cast.

"Ha. Let's see you try to move now," He challenged, and I grinned.

"You're on." I lifted my knees, got him in the stomach, then when he took it's toll he loosened up a little. I quickly got up and

backed away about five feet.

"I WIN!" I shouted, throwing my fists in the air, dancing around in circles. I don't know why, but I feel kind of hyper today. Shikamaru got up to put his hands on his hips and watch me.

"Yeah yeah, you win. Let's see you do it again." Immediately he tackled me, rolled me over so that he was on top again, and held my legs down with his knees. Desperate times call for

desperate measures. I leaned over to his wrist and started gnawing on Shikamaru's arm.

"OW! YOU BIT ME!" He screeched, surprised, and let me go. I sprinted back to Shienna and acted like nothing happened, watching the clouds. Kakashi looked over to Shikamaru extremely confused on what just happened. Shienna looked up to see Shikamaru's expression annoyed and bewildered. Shikamaru huffed, annoyed that he had lost both times, and timidly came over to sit next to me. He rubbed his arm, looking at me warily.

"It's okay, I don't have rabies. I promise." I grinned.

"But don't sue me if I do..." His eyes widened, and he jumped back about ten feet.

"STAY AWAY FROM ME, TEIMA, JUST STAY. AWAY." He warned.

"Or what?" I demanded.

"Or I'll do something that'll both weird you and I out." He had something really funny on his mind, I could tell. I decided not to test him.

"Okay. I wont move an inch...after I lay down comfortably." I snickered. Shienna smiled. She sat up straight and closed her eyes, taking in the breeze.

I sighed in contentment, Shikamaru wont be that far away for me for long. I closed my eyes for a few minutes, and slowly began to fall asleep. Shikamaru came over and sat down next to me, watching my deep breathing.

"Tei? Am I that boring?" He frowned playfully, probably hoping that I was still awake. I was out of it, though, in my own little world of blackness. He sighed, and layed down next to me so close that if I rolled over I'd be on top of him. He just watched me sleep for a while, before turning his head again to watch the clouds float by. Shienna opened her eyes, glanced at the sleeping Kakashi and then gave Shikamaru a weird look.

"Whatever you do, don't poke the bear while it's sleeping," She warned. Shikamaru looked at her weirdly back.

"What bear?" he asked, looking from me to Kakashi. She rolled her eyes.

"Both of them," she replied. Shikamaru smiled.

"Oh. Yeah... have you tried that before? With her, I mean." He jabbed his thumb in my direction. She looked at him strangely.

"Why would I?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"Just curious as to why you'd call her a bear," He explained.

"Well.." She went all shifty eyes from me to Shikamaru. "I did wake up Teima one time..I don't think she remembers this.. but she started to flail her arms at me, hissed, then went back to sleep." Shikamaru laughed.

"That sounds like her alright," he agreed, "Normally she doesn't sleep around me unless she's at my house or something." Shienna let out a soft laugh, then a sigh.

"I wonder if the Akatsuki misses me," she wondered. Still sleeping, I felt myself roll over the tiniest bit for comfort, and I felt something hard but warm beneath my cheek. I liked the feeling, and I rubbed against whatever it was to get comfortable. Suddenly I mumbled something that only Shikamaru could hear, seeing as how my head was on his chest now.

"Yeah...sure...Take me with you, Sasuke... I want to see dad..." Shikamaru looked down at me, surprised to find my head on his chest, and stiffened when he heard what I said. He looked back over to Shienna.

"I bet they do, you're fun to be with." He tried to reassure her, but he was sure he did the opposite after he thought about what he said. Shienna only heard the word "Sasuke."

"I'm no good at being evil," She commented. "..Sasuke, huh.." Shikamaru grinned.

"Something you've picked up on from Konoha, I suppose," he guessed. He lifted a hand to pet my head, and sighed when Shienna said Sasuke.

"She just misses her dad, that's all...Oh..That's right.. You don't know what happened, do you?" He looked over to Shienna, watching for a response, his hand permanently on my hair. Shienna started mumbling to herself, and then flushed a light pink and said "Nothing about Tei." Shikamaru searched my pockets, and had to look in the back one of my skirt to find it. A light red smothered his cheeks, and he reached really far to hand it to Shienna.

"It's from the man himself," he informed her. Shienna read the note intently, focusing on what she was reading, taking in every bit of information it contained. She mumbled to herself.

"I guess I did play the bad guy part... I left when this happened.." She handed the note back to him. "I... I never knew, that poor girl.." Shikamaru took it, and slipped it in to where he found it. He nodded.

"She's going through a hard time right now, but you made it better when we brought you back. I knew you would, that's why I brought her in for the questioning...thank you." Shienna looked thoughtful for a minute, and slowly formed the words "Your welcome," looking at me fondly. Shikamaru nodded, and repeated the phase that happened the night before.

"After we spotted your kidnap, we heard a dog yelp..and whine.. repeatedly. Teima got really worried, thinking it was Ekitai, and so she wanted to go alone, but I wouldn't let her. She's really stubborn... Anyway, when we got there, I think Teima saved my life. She shut me up and we practically flew to another rooftop to find Sasuke holding up Kiba by the foot and Ekitai.. they were both a bloody mess. He got a hold of her, put a kunai to her throat, and I thought she was a goner... I managed somehow to catch him in my jutsu, and forced him to let her go, and she put those two back to safety, and as soon as we got a hold of Sasuke, he disappeared with Teima's shadow clones. He called her his, so I can almost guarantee he'll come back...That's why I'm worried about what she said earlier about going with Sasuke to see her dad again. She only stayed last time so I wouldn't be hurt...Thank God she did. Don't ask me why I'm telling you this, I don't know myself," he finished. The entire time he was telling his story, he was staring at the same spot in the sky, reliving the night before.

Shienna looked over to my injured hand, sighed, and took out a scroll and a bottle of purple labeled ink. She drew a detailed butterly while Shikamaru was looking at the sky. She closed it, then opened it back up with a few hand signs. The butterfly landed gently on my head. Shikamaru returned to the present, looking over to Shienna, watching her put away a scroll. He looked at her, confused, then looked down at me to find a purple butterfly atop my head.

"What...did you do?" He asked, gazing at it with awe.

"It's a chakra butterfly. I'm just trying to help.. this will take care of her hand." She lied down and looked up at the sky, and Kakashi rolled over, draping an arm across Shienna's stomach. She sighed and closed her eyes.

"I hope she gets better," She said. Shikamaru watched the butterfly, then looked over to find Shienna with Kakashi's arm over her, he was sleeping.

"Yeah...me too...Hey, what was the deal yesterday? The way he was holding you?" Shienna looked at his hand, and then Shikamaru.

"Um..well...he seems to have a fond liking for me?" She had a guilty smile playing across her face. Shikamaru raised his eyebrows.

"He loves you? You're kidding, right? That's gotta be a pain in the butt," He remarked, staring at the sleeping Kakashi, wondering how this ever happened in the first place.

"He's...not really..that bad. He's just older..and...uhm...older." Shikamaru chuckled.

"That's the pain I was talking about... You sure do attract guys, don't you? I'm not aware of a woman in the Akatsuki...hmn.." I rolled over to Shienna's direction, and found myself breathing in grass. It tickled my nose, and I sneezed, waking myself up. I jumped up, looking around everywhere.

"Holy shitcrackers... how long was I asleep?!?" I stared at the other three, expecting an answer somewhere along the lines of, "Oh, about 2 minutes..." but I wasn't too sure.

"There was a woman named Konan...she was like a mother to me," Shienna said, then looked over at me. "Why good morning sleepyhead." She laughed a little and watched the butterfly cling to my hair. I glanced at Shikamaru, and he was staring at Shienna.

"There's a woman in that group? ... Hm." He gazed at me, and sighed.

"Teima, why did you wake up? The racket you make is such a pain.." I mock glared at him.

"Oh, would you prefer for me to fall asleep again, only to roll over again, and find..something..hard..and warm..." As I tried to describe what I slept on, I started making weird expressions. Shikamaru only grinned. Shienna laughed at us.

"Tei, move your hand," She commanded. I looked at her funny.

"It'll hurt, though.." I did what I was told anyway. Shikamaru watched me anxiously as I twisted my wrist around reluctantly. No pain.

"What the...!?" Shienna smiled.

"There, look at the top of your head." I placed my hands on my hips, I was still standing.

"That's physically impossible, Shienna." Shikamaru got up, raised his hand to the top of my head, and lowered it down. I found a purple butterfly thing on his finger, randomly fluttering its wings slowly. I stared at it, bewildered, then looked from Shienna to the butterfly.

"You did this?" I asked, amazed. Her smile got even bigger.

"Yup, though that was my last one. But nonetheless you're okay." I stared at her for a moment, then ran over, crouched down and slipped my hands between her back and the grass to give her a hug.

"Thanks... but you didn't have to, really.. It could've just healed over time..." Shikamaru frowned at me.

"Oh, sure, she gets a hug, but your pillow doesn't? What a bother!" I got up, and faced him with a strange expression on my face. As I realized what he was saying, I felt heat rise to my face.

"You mean...you...were the hard...warm...thing?" I stared at him, I'm sure I'm blushing really badly now. He smiled.

"It's fine, you just rolled over..."

Laughing, Shienna said, "Aw look! Tei's having a cute moment! Everyone take out your camera!" She looked over to Kakashi. "Jesus kid, what'd you eat?! You've been sleeping forever!" Her stomach growled, vibrating viciously. The vibration woke up Kakashi.

"Where are we and how long have I been sleeping? Oh, and hi, Shienna," he said groggily. I looked over to Shienna and rose a fist, shaking it.

"NO CAMERAS. I don't do pictures. They're a pain." Shikamaru burst out laughing when I used his phrase, along with Shienna's comment.

"Ah, I wish I had a camera," He said. I walked over to poke Kakashi's shoulder.

"You slept longer than I did! Sheesh!" I exclaimed. I looked over to Shienna.

"Someone's hungry.. You wanna go get some ramen?" I licked my lips as soon as I said "ramen." That sounded reaaalllyyy good right now. Shienna closed her eyes and held on her stomach, trying not to drool.

"Ramen...eating.." She looked up to me. "Eating anything sounds good right now. I..I haven't eaten anything in two days..Let's go..like..now.." She said, pushing up at my back. I grinned, then it faded when I was pushed.

"Don't keep your panties in a bunch, I'm getting there," Shikamaru chuckled, and took my hand, leading me to the ramen shop. I squeezed out.

"I'm no dog! I can walk by myself!" He looked back at me.

"You sure about that?" He asked.

"I don't want to rely on you too much, cloudboy," I said, hinting an attitude as I called him the nickname I usually give when I'm angry, though I know it's not offensive at all. I grabbed Shienna's hand, and then Shikamaru's and led them BOTH to the ramen shop. Shikamaru just looked at me, smiled crookedly, and shook his head.

"...Oh..shit...two days.." Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, I forgot." Shienna's voice entered my ears.

"It's okay, we're going to eat, like, now." I heard Kakashi's voice, and a pull at the hand I used to lead Shienna. I tugged, dragging them all with me.

"Yeah Kakashi, cool it, we're eating. I'm starved." As soon as I said starved, I heard a very loud...thing.. coming from behind me. Instantly I let go of their hands, and pulled out a kunai.

"Did you guys hear that!? What was it?!" Shikamaru smiled really big, trying to supress a laugh, and put a hand to his face to hide the tears that came up when he tried to do so.

"What? What's so funny? There could be..a...a...WOLF out there, or something...and I don't have Ekitai with me!" I felt someone pull my wrist from side to side, and I glared back at them. Then I heard Shienna groaning about food, and I realized it was probably her. I heard a voice scream, "OH MY GOD, GAI SENSEI, SHIENNA-CHAN LOST HER YOUTH, WE MUST SAVE HER!" I jumped when I felt her being jerked out of my hand, and let go of Shikamaru to run after Lee and Shienna.

"LEE. GIVE HER BACK. WE WERE ABOUT TO RESTORE..HER...UHM...YOUTH..SO SHE'LL BE OKAY WITH US. LEE!!" I sprinted, but I was no match for Lee. He's a human cheetah. I felt my heart pump faster as I ran faster, the strain on my legs growing. I looked back to find Shikamaru and Kakashi becoming smaller and smaller. Pushing chakra to my feet, I sped up, and finally managed to catch up with Lee. We were both sprinting at the same speed, and I tried to communicate with him.

"Lee. Give her back. Or else," I warned, motioning for Shienna and speaking in between huge breaths. Lee wasn't going to give her up.

"RUN FASTER GUY SENSEI RIVAL TEAM KAKASHI IS CATCHING UP WITH US! WE MUST RESTORE HER YOUTH FIRST!" He was running faster and faster. Then he stopped.

"When trying to outrun them I must take off these weights to let them see the full youth of...ROCK LEE!"

He stopped to take the weights off for a second, then went faster than before. I could hear gai sensei yelling faintly behind him "Go Lee go, make me proud!" I had to stop for a breather, just keeping up the pace was too much. I thought I had an advantage when he stopped to take off his weights, but I was wrong. Pretty soon he was many yards ahead of me. I felt lightheaded, losing chakra as I went, still trying to catch up. It was a long time before I felt something hit my head, and everything went black. I heard Gai sensei's voice above me.

"Teima? Is that you?" there was a long pause when I didn't respond, and then I felt myself..flying...it was then when I lost consciousness.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Total blackness surrounded me for what felt like years. Realizing that I was..well..awake, I fluttered my eyes open, my eyes glazed over and unfocused. I felt something as hard as a rock beneath me, and an arm around my body to support me. Slowly regaining strength and eyesight, I saw the shocked face of Rock Lee, and the confused and disturbed faces of Gaara and Naruto. Flickering my eyes downward, I saw the nearly-lifeless body of Shienna. I turned around to see who the hell was holding me up, finding the shiny-toothed grin on a face that should be shot. My eyes widened in realization of what the scene I was in probably created, and gaining immediate energy and the need to get away, I pounded on Gai's arms. I regretted it soon.

"OW! SHIT!" I grasped my just-healed-and-bruised-again hand, flailing and kicking with my legs in a poor attempt to show Gai that I wanted to get off.

"Ah, so you're awake! Good! Youth has finally returned to your face!" My eyes widened, larger and larger by the second, staring at the man before me in horror.

"G-...Gai...Let me go...please..." I said, stuttering. I don't know why, Gai's just a gay loser.. Hearing the wolf again, I pulled out a kunai, finally free from that evil green man's clutches.

"SHIENNA! THE WOLF IS HERE AGAIN!" I shouted, trying to wake up the dead-looking girl on the floor. Naruto stared at Lee scournfully.

"Good God man, what did you DO to her?!" He asked, and I perked up at his voice.

"Naruto? What're you doing here?" Lee was still in that "OH-MY-GOD-I-JUST-FUCKING-KILLED-SOMEONE" face.

"I found her like this!" It was then that Kakashi and Shikamaru came in. Shikamaru looked around anxiously, and found my eyes. His muscles noticeably relaxed, but a confused expression graced his face as he looked at Shienna, Kakashi, Lee, Naruto, Gaara, and the kunai I held in my hand firmly. Kakashi ran over to Shienna, lifting her over and turning her up.

"What did they do to Shienna? Why!?" A sob choked his voice, and Gai kneeled by him. A loud growl filled the room, and my grip on the kunai loosened, realizing that Shienna was hungry. She groaned.

"Feeeeddd meeeee.." Her eyes opened slowly, and Kakashi sat her down next to me. Hearing Lee ordering her something, I cut him off.

"RAMEN. ASAP." I said, pointing to my drooling friend in the obvious need of food. Lee screamed after I ordered.

"SHIENNA-SAN...YOU'RE...ALIVE!" As he was getting into an obsessed-glomp position, Kakashi nearly slapped his hand onto Lee's forehead.

"No you don't," He warned, giving the hint that if anyone touched Shienna right now they'd probably die. Shikamaru watched this, eyebrows slightly creased into his forehead. He then walked over to where I sat, I'm standing now, and sat down on the stool, arms wrapping around my stomach to drag me down with him to sit on his lap.

"GAI GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM M---" I was turning around quickly, spitting out words as I went, when I actually looked at who was holding me. Seeing that it was Shikamaru, my face turned scarlet. Shikamaru's mouth twisted into a grin.

"I've never seen you use so much of that foul mouth you have.." Another growl from Shienna's stomach, and I turned 'round to find Shienna sitting still.

"Why, arms?! WHY HAVE YOU BETRAYED ME?!" Kakashi grinned beneath his mask, took his chopsticks, and pulled out some noodles from her bowl to feed Shienna. She ate them quickly, looking at him with a begging expression planted on her features. Naruto finally looked over to me, and waved hello. I nodded at him, acknowledging his greeting, and gave Gaara a quick smile.

"I lost the feeling in my arms. You see, I haven't eaten in two days.. though I lost count at two." We all looked at Shienna, and I turned back to Gaara, noticing that Shienna finished her bowl of ramen in only a minute.

"Gaara! Fancy seeing you here.. What brings the Kazekage to the strange village of Konoha?" Shikamaru pulled me back, and I felt his smirk against my neck. I relished the warmth of his breath...it's freezing here.

I smiled weakly, I couldn't come up with anything to reply to Shikamaru's comment. Naruto's voice rang through my ears like a trumpet call.

"I...challenge you... to a eating contest!" I sniggered, he could never beat Shienna. Not while she's as hungry as this. There was the clinking sound of bowls of ramen being passed out, and I took Shikamaru's and mine happily, carefully giving it to him as I got off his lap to sit on a stool. Gaara slapped his face, mumbling something, and I grinned at him.

"It's fine; we don't need to participate. We can just watch the show while we have our dinner.." Gaara looked at me with an emotionless expression.

"Why are you so... annoying? Nobody ever talks to me this much. And to answer the question you had earlier, I'm here to "recover" from the mission I just completed before going back home." I winced as he called me annoying, and Shikamaru gave him an annoyed frown.

"I dunno... you seem quiet tonight, that's all.." I mumbled, and then stuffed my face with ramen. I could hear an agreement from Shienna to Naruto's challenge, and then offered her my seat. I could eat on the ground. Shienna's stomach growled, she hit it and yelled at it. Naruto and Gaara looked at her funny, apparently they kept themselves well fed and never have had to yell at their stomach before. As soon as the cook heard that there was going to be a contest, he started shouting orders at his assistants as they went to work on the biggest pot of ramen I have ever seen.

"Who's going to pay for this?" I pondered over the same question, the price would be scary high since Naruto AND Shienna are involved.. Naruto frowned.  
"I don't have any money, seeing as how I just got out of the pen, and they took all of my stuff..so I basically have nothing." He deepened his frown. The waitress perked up at those statements.  
"Don't worry, we have always wanted to see this! This contest'll be on the house!" Shienna laughed, and I smiled. This'll be interesting to watch.

"Well, let's hope you don't regret it; Naruto and I might eat you out of work and home." Hearing this made the waitress nervous, and Shienna shrugged.

"I have been starved so Naruto might want to eat twice as much as me." The waitress shivered, wondering how much Naruto could really hold in that stomach of his. Her stomach roared louder, and she slapped it.

"Shut up, I'm feeding you soon!" We all became silent, waiting for the contest to begin. The waitress brought a bowl of ramen to Shienna, and began blushing as she looked at Kakashi. He was confused.

"Um...Kakashi? Can you be score keeper for Shienna?" Kakashi smiled beneath his mask.

"I would love to." She looked over to Lee.

"Can you be the score keeper for Naruto?" She asked in a monotone voice.

"Yes ma'am," he replied in his usual bubbly voice. She gave Naruto and Shienna chopsticks and held a red flag in her hand.

"On your mark...Get set...GO!" She waved the flag, and Kakashi, along with Lee, watched the contest to see who would win while they were counting. Naruto dove right in, but Shienna was being slow about it. She finished the first bowl in about a minute, Naruto was still on his first. I began to eat my own meal, not paying attention to any of this, only certain things such as the words to start, and all of this wonderful food being on the house. When I heard that, I had cheered. I was on my third bowl, most likely my last. Quickly I looked over to find Gaara watching the contestants with disgust all over his face, and then turned the opposite direction to see Shikamaru watching them with an amused expression. Noticing that I was finally finished, and seeing as how he had only one bowl, he looked over to me and patted his lap. Grinning, I walked over to sit on it, and found myself in Shikamaru's arms, cuddling him. I felt a little awkward and embarassed, though I noticed that this actually felt a little pleasant. Do I like him..? Naw, can't be.. Despite all of the shouting and yelling, cheering and eating, my eyes closed and I was on the verge of falling asleep, but I stayed at the borderline for a while, listening to Shikamaru's heartbeat. At first it was really fast, but then slowed down to it's normal rate. I felt the vibration of his voice as he cheered for the winner, most likely Shienna. Hearing the words "WINNER IS SHIENNA," I sniggered in my half-asleep state. Shikamaru looked down at me with raised eyebrows, probably thinking that I was dreaming. I opened one eye to have a peek at him, to find him watching me with a question written all over his face: What's so funny? I sighed, and opened the other eye, though not moving from my comfortable position... wrapped up in Shikamaru's arms.

"I knew Shienna would win...thus...I win.." I smiled lazily, and he laughed.

"Teima, you can be so strange sometimes.." My smile turned into a mischeivious grin.

"Exactly why I'm your gir--- best friend." I corrected myself, thoroughly embarassed now. I was probably blushing, and Shikamaru looked up, saying nothing in response, though I could've sworn I saw a hint of a triumphant look on his face.

Noticing that I didn't hear Shienna's voice in the shop anymore, and I couldn't spot the red-headed jerk who called me annoying so often when I was trying to be friendly, I untangled myself from Shikamaru. He looked up, confused, like he did something wrong. I shook my head.

"Shienna and Gaara are gone...I want to go find them.." I ran out of the ramen shop, leaving Shikamaru to stare at me as I kicked up dust to jump from roof to roof to search. I looked near the old park, and found a gray-haired kid and a red head, and smirked. But just for extra precautions..

"Shienna, where are you?" She looked up at me, then rose from her swing, holding out her hand to Gaara. I conveniently landed next to Shienna to see Gaara giving me the worst death glare I've ever seen.. it could probably rival Uchiha Itachi's. He obviously doesn't like me. Never have, never will... I sighed.

"Sorry, Gaara, if I ruined anything. Shienna not being in the same place that I am worries me. A lot. You, of all people, should understand that.. I realize you probably will kill me if I say anymore, so I better shut my trap.." I kept babbling, knowing that it wouldn't help me at all. I winced as Gaara glared at me again as I babbled, and seeing the hatred in his eyes I could tell that it wouldn't be easy for me to befriend him. Why must people be so difficult? I have nothing against him... He got even more angry at my silence most likely, and turned to leave. Shienna sighed.

"Have a nice day, Gaara." I nodded.

"Yeah, have a nice day.." He mumbled "You too" to Shienna, and completely ignored me.

"Tei? Can we go back to the hill? I want to take a nap." I blushed slightly, embarassed that I made Gaara so angry without meaning to, and feeling bad that Shienna was his friend and all.

"Sure.." She gave me a noogie, and burst out laughing, making me laugh too. Kakashi and Shikamaru walked towards us, weird looks on their faces, watching us laugh like a bunch of loons at

my hair. Shienna calmed down a little, but I couldn't.. Once I start laughing, it's difficult to stop.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going back to that hill." I nodded, and we all followed Shienna's lead. Shikamaru and I watched Kakashi try to hold Shienna's hand with amused expressions, then turned to smile at each other. Shienna sighed happily and gave in to holding Kakashi's hand. We soon reached the hill, and I immediately layed down on the grass, sprawled out, smiling happily at the sky. Everyone came a little bit after, and Shikamaru lay down next to me on my left, Kakashi to my right, and Shienna to his right. Shikamaru looked at me as though wanting to say something, and bit his lip, looking away when I glanced at him. Annoyed at the idea of waiting, I was straight to the point.

"Spit it out." He smiled awkwardly.

"Tsunade's little messenger, Shino, found me and reported that Tsunade would like to see you, Kiba, and I at her office later today.. She has something for us." One side of my mouth folded downwards into a lopsided frown..

"A mission, perhaps?" He sighed, looking back up to gaze at the clouds.

"Most likely." I started mumbling under my breath, wondering what it would be. There was the sound of rustling coming from grass nearby. When I turned to look to see who it was, Shikamaru was already watching the pink-haired billboard brow running in our direction. She paused in her steps, watching us give her the same questioning look, and giggled.  
"You two are so cute together... Anyway, it's Naruto's birthday today, and he wanted you," she pointed at me, "To come." I looked up to the sky for a second, thinking...What's the date today? October 10th..? OH YEAH! Uzumaki's birthday!

"...Well...you mean come to his party? I have to go see Tsunade tonight with my team," I smiled an apologetic one as she nodded at my first words and then looked disappointed at the second piece of information. Sakura, thinking she's SOOOO smart and cool, lit up and gave me a sly grin when she got an idea.

"Go see her now, then, damn you!" She teased. Shikamaru sat up and turned around to face me. His voice was a monotone and threatening when he spoke.

"She's not going to any party without me...Right, Teima?" He gave me a look that sent shudders down my spine, and I nodded. Shienna bit her lip, and Kakashi was just fiddling around with the grass beside him, listening. I looked at them sympathetically.

"Tell Naruto I'm not coming unless they can." I lifted my arms and showed her Shienna, Kakashi, and Shikamaru. She gave Shienna a cold glare as her eyes flickered in that direction, and nodded curtly. She obviously didn't want her to come, but it wasn't her choice to decide. Sakura turned on her heels, facing the opposite direction, and walked in the direction of Naruto's house. I got up, and held out a hand to help Shikamaru. Having his own little manly pride he didn't take it, but got up himself.

"I'll see you at the party, Shienna." I smiled, and she nodded eagerly.

"Thank you very much for wanting us to come.." she glanced from me to Kakashi, and I nodded. Kakashi looked hurt.

"I can't believe he didn't invite his own sensei..!" I sniggered, and Shikamaru and I walked in the direction of Kiba's house so we could go as a team.

We started running once we were out of Shienna's and Kakashi's field of vision, and reached Kiba's house soon. He was in there, playing with Ekitai, Akamaru watching with his tail swishing from side to side. As soon as I entered the door, Ekitai leaped up to me, and I caught her as she started licking me all over my face. Shikamaru leaned on the frame of the door, waiting.

"Aahh... I'm sorry, Ekitai, I haven't been with you much, have I?" I hugged her close, and looked over to Kiba, who was smiling up at the sight of me and my dog. He got up, and walked over so that he was closer. Akamaru followed.

"Hey, Kiba?"

"Hmm?" He answered, knowing what I was going to ask.

"Did you get the message from Shino?" He nodded.

"And you _were_ invited to Uzumaki's party, right?" He burst out laughing.

"Of course! Neji came over to tell me." I smiled; I haven't seen that guy in a looooong time.

"Shikamaru and I were thinking---" Shikamaru raised his eyebrows, and I huffed. "Okay, Sakura gave me the idea to go see Tsunade now so we wouldn't have to miss any of the fun at Uzumaki's." Kiba nodded.

"Good idea..." He then took Shikamaru's stepping out of the door as a sign to get going, and followed with Akamaru on his tail. I came last, clutching Ekitai with one hand and petting her with the other. My small dog rested her head on my shoulder. We all walked at the same pace in the direction of Tsunade's office in a row. Kiba in the middle, I on his left, Shikamaru on his right. I sighed happily, they decided to act like a _team_ today.

We got there in pretty good time, and I was the first to enter the building at Kiba's mock gentleman crap again. "Ladies first," he had said, giving me a bow as I blushed lightly and walked inside. Shikamaru seemed to be stone, his face expressionless. He was obviously thinking, I should know. I didn't have any time to ask, because Tsunade's assistant, Shizune, found us immediately, then yelled for the Hokage. Tsunade appeared in a flash, hands on her hips.

"I have something for you three.." Kiba nodded, his face serious as he crossed his arms.

"I understand that Uzumaki's party's today, and I presume you're all going, so I'm going to send you on this mission the day after tomorrow...you better be ready by then." I glanced to my right to smirk at Shikamaru, he was right again. He grinned back, then focused his attention on Tsunade.

"I'm going to send you guys with Team Kakashi to recover Uchiha Sasuke. We've picked up on his trail. I picked you three, of course, to test your ability as a team... not only that, but some of us here have excellent noses to help us find him... Along with a brain that will make sure you guys don't do anything stupid." She looked at Kiba and Akamaru, then turned to me holding Ekitai. Knowing that she was being talked about, she lifted her head to look at us all with an adorable confused expression. Shikamaru's eyes danced with amusement as he tried his best to hold back a laugh from Tsunade's honest comment. He then raised his hand as though we were in ninja academy again, and Tsunade turned to him.

"Yes?" He jerked a thumb at me.

"She can't come." I hissed slightly in annoyance, and turned around to look at him angrily.

"Why not?!" I asked, sadly knowing the answer.

"You'll go with Sasuke," He replied. Kiba looked between us, stupified.

"...Teima's going whether you like it or not, Shikamaru. He wont run away if he knows she's there." I grinned triumphantly, though Shikamaru's face was stone as he glared at the floor, defeated. Kiba then picked up where Shikamaru left off.

"I don't know what they're saying, really, but if that's the case, then I don't think Teima should be able to go either. We don't want another missing nin, do we?" I knew he spoke for the village, but I also knew that beneath the mask he had on, he really had said this for his selfish reasons. He wanted me safe at his house. I glared at them both, feeling that this entire thing wasn't fair.

"You are going as a team. I'm almost certain that you two," She took a moment to examine the both of them with the fierceness and protest in their eyes, "Will not allow Teima to go without a fight." Kiba smirked over-confidently, and Shikamaru just lifted his head to look at Tsunade and nod. Neither of them looked at me to even look for a reaction. Neither of them cared whether I wanted to see my dad or not. I sighed, and looked the other direction as Tsunade disappeared to her office again. I walked not knowing where I was going, and Kiba and Shikamaru just followed. I found myself at the remains of the building where I once lived. All of it...blackened ash.

I searched the pile, not thinking, nor feeling, and Shikamaru just stood there, watching, while Kiba waited for me to finish patiently. Both of them were just as expressionless as I was, when I found an old photo of my dad and I among the debris. The frame was shattered, and I wiped away as much black shit as I could, revealing my delighted smile, ice cream in hand, and my father looking down at me laughing as I gave the photographer a peace sign. I scanned over everything within the picture, remembering the day as I did so. Curious, my best friend walked over to hover over my shoulder to look down at what I was holding. He backed away as I turned around to face him, Ekitai was on my shoulders now, the photo clutched in my hands.

Kiba sighed.

"I suppose you want to take that home?" I didn't realize what he was saying. He said "home." I was about to reply, "I am home." But I didn't, realizing that it would only hurt his feelings. I nodded, the slightest emotion in my eyes. Kiba led the way, Shikamaru followed, and I scurried to catch up. Kiba hummed a tune while Shikamaru and I got lost in thought. I didn't know what Shikamaru was thinking... All I could think about was the party tonight, my father, and the mission we would be having only a few days from now. The house was in sight within a few minutes, and I walked inside after the rest of my team. They both sat down somewhere within the living room, and waited for me as I hurriedly placed the photo on my bed and put on some party clothes. I wanted to look nice tonight, it is Uzumaki's birthday after all. I managed to find my red party dress in my bag, the only dress-up thing I brought along with jewelry and shoes to match, along with a red ribbon to tie up my hair with. I quickly put them all on, but did my make-up and hair extra-carefully. That would be a pain to have to re-do. I tied up my long hair, a finishing touch, with the ribbon into a bow.

I walked out to find Shikamaru staring up at the ceiling, and Kiba watching the hall for me expectantly. His eyes widened as he saw my attempt at looking good, and smiled. Shikamaru looked towards him, who was checking me out, then looked at me to stare in shock. I almost never dress up this much, only on rare occasions when I was forced to. I grinned, and he shook his head, getting up.

"You look nice, Tei," he muttered so that I almost couldn't hear, and then took my hand to lead me out of the house. Kiba followed, and Shikamaru let go of my hand once we were outside as I noticed Ekitai perched on Akamaru's back as he tailed Kiba. She barked happily, wagging her tail, and I took that as a compliment for how I looked.

"Thanks, Tai," I said, then reached over to pick her up and hurried back to my spot in between the two boys. Shikamaru had his hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead, but I could feel Kiba's eyes on me as we got nearer to Naruto's house. It was when I reached the door to find Shienna and Kakashi walking in the near-dark in our direction. I smiled and waved at them, knocking on the door as I did so. It was Hinata who opened the door, and she smiled when she saw who it was.

"Come in!" She said in a rush, moving out of the way. I was the first to enter, and the first to notice that nearly everyone was there. All of my classmates, and a few senseis, anyway.

Music was playing loud as I found a place to sit, everyone either munching on snacks, chatting, or dancing with their buddies of the opposite sex. I just watched them all, amused. TenTen was making an attempt to dance with Neji, Naruto with Sakura...I noticed Shino sitting in the far corner, away from all of the socialization. Shikamaru was laying on the couch nearest to me, about to fall asleep, Kiba was chatting with Hinata. I sighed in contentment as I stroked Ekitai's soft fur, and I began to doze. I was actually asleep soon, and woke up when I felt a tight grip on my shoulders as someone shook me a little too hard. I groaned, and slightly opened my eyes to glare at who was waking me up. I found myself glaring at the face of Kankuro, Temari was attempting to wake up Shikamaru. She was failing miserably.

"Hah! You and Shikamaru...how could you guys sleep while we're partying?!" I shrugged, then got up to help Temari out in the waking of Shikamaru, Ekitai leaping out of my lap as I did so. I shoved Temari aside lightly.

"I can do it." I told her, and she just gave me a deadly look.

"Whatever," Her voice sounded threatening. It appeared that she wanted to be the face Shikamaru saw when he woke up, but I would never allow that to happen. She better be jealous.

Huh?

I don't like him...

Do I?

I leaned over Shikamaru to use my trick. I whispered, "Good morning lazy," into his ear, and as usual, my words along with my breath tickled his neck and woke him up. He looked over to me, not surprised. I used that often. Temari just stared in shock, probably wondering what I whispered. I smiled triumphantly and took a few steps back to my seat. Kankuro was across the room, and I yelled out to him.

"Why'd you wake me up anyway?!" He only looked at me with a playful expression across his face.

"We can't play any good games with the coolest girl asleep," He shouted back over all of the noise, and I blushed slightly. He resumed the conversation he was having with Kiba, and they both looked at me after exchanging a few more words. I scanned the room for Shienna, finding her with Gaara. Of course.

Did she HAVE to be with the guy who despised me most? I can't go over there to talk to her now that Gaara's there. I'd only ruin a good conversation. Naruto stood atop a table to where everyone could see him, and smiled the same over-confident one he always gave.

"We are going to play seven minutes in heaven!" I groaned loudly. All of the noise stopped except for the music, everyone turned to stare at me except Shikamaru. He was just in a doze, smiling.

"Teima-chan? You don't want to play?" Lee asked, everyone was still staring at me.

"Uh, no, not really." Naruto sighed.

"Will you play if I don't make you go first?" I snorted.

"First, second, and third, and I'll play." He looked down at Sakura hopefully, and agreed. Ino shoved a bowl full of colored paper in Hinata's face, and went around the room to give everyone a slip. When she got to me, I reached in and pulled out the color navy. I quickly hid it behind me, not wanting anyone to see.

"Alright, Hinata, you're first," Kankuro said, and waited for her to call out her color.

"U-uhm..Okay...Does anyone have lavender?" She called, and it was Chouji that stood up. She stared at her match, and walked into the closet unwillingly. Kiba and Kakashi put her in there by force, and I sniggered as I waited for their turn to end, stroking Ekitai's head again.

Seven minutes passed. I raised my hand, calling out that I would be the one to open the door. I sprinted over, and unlocked the door to find Hinata at one end of the closet and Chouji at the other, munching on his chips. Hinata didn't faint, nor was she blushing, so they really must have done nothing. She escaped the closet quickly, and Chouji followed. Naruto looked around the room, searching for the next victim.

"TenTen! What color do you have?" TenTen sighed, then called out the color apricot, walking into the closet not even waiting for her match. Rock Lee shouted, "Yippee!" before sprinting into the closet screaming "I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD, GAI SENSEI!" Gai gave him the nice guy pose, and I slapped my hand to my face. Poor poor TenTen. Another seven minutes passed, and Neji opened the door to find his teammates hugging. I burst out laughing, and both of their faces flushed a pink color. Naruto then stood up, choosing himself.

"I have the color lime green," He shouted, then looked at Sakura, expecting her to have the same color. She shook her head, and Ino stood up, annoyed. Naruto gagged when she wasn't looking, and I giggled.

"Good luck," I called. He nodded sadly, and shut the door behind him. Three minutes passed before we heard something crash. I jumped, and Shikamaru, who had been pretending to be asleep, opened one eye.

"Should I go see what's up?" I called, getting up. Most of the people shook their head no, and I snickered, sitting back down. "Whatever, then." I looked around the room, catching Temari watching Shikamaru hopefully. She caught me catching her staring, and she leaned back a little in shock as I threw daggers at her with my eyes. My nostrils flared, and I angrily glared at the ceiling, crossing my arms. My irises are probably crimson again.

What am I, jealous?

Psh!

Four more minutes passed, and I glanced at the two to find them both annoyed. They probably didn't do much, maybe fought some. Naruto pointed at Shienna accusingly.

"You go." Shienna paled a little, then quietly said her color.

"White," and at that moment Kakashi got up, took her hand, and led her into the closet. I watched them pass by, wide-eyed.

The seven minutes passed slowly, and there seemed to be no strange noises. Shikamaru lazily got up to see, and found Kakashi hugging Shienna very caringly.

"Awww," I let it out with a little smile, and Shienna just blushed. Kakashi then walked out of the room with Shienna, hand in hand. Naruto sighed, a sweet smile on his face. He then looked at Temari, and pointed at her.

"You're next." Temari sighed, and her voice rang in my ear.

"Baby blue?" She stood up, and Shikamaru groaned.

"Troublesome," he muttered. I stared as Shikamaru entered the closet after Temari.

(A/N: Shikamaru's point of view.)

I groaned. Temari!? Why not Teima? I wonder what the hell she got.. "Troublesome," I said, telling the truth for once.

I followed Temari unwillingly, very aware of Teima's staring. I shut the door after me, then went to sit in a corner. Temari came over and sat next to me, smiling a little.

"So...you and me." She sighed happily. I looked at her strangely. What the hell..?

"Glad it's not Teima?" She teased, laughing. I looked the other way.

"No. She's my best friend, at least." Temari paused, then looked at me with a face I've only seen once before.. on Teima's face earlier. Jealousy. She leaned over to me, cupping my face in her hands, and then pulled me into a kiss. I pulled away quickly, not liking what I was feeling. My stomach was clenching in knots, a voice in the back in my head was telling me to make her stop. Temari looked over to me sadly, the pain of rejection written all over her face.

"You...don't like me?" I shook my head.

"But...but I like you! More than that, I think I love you!" Being a tough, troublesome woman, the kind that reminds me of my mom, she tried to hold back her tears. I didn't sigh like I felt like doing...I feel bad now. What's worse than recieving rejection from the one you love? I wonder if Teima would make me feel like Temari does now..

...What?!

I shook my head quickly, trying to rid myself of my thoughts. What the hell am I thinking? Teima's my best friend, best friend only. It might ruin things if I like her..._Why_ is love so _troublesome?! _I glanced at Temari to find her sobbing silently. I didn't know what to do.

Do I pat her on the shoulder?

Do I apologize for not liking her?

Maybe I could tell her that there's plenty of guys out there, and she'd find someone eventually?

Remind her that I'm not as great as I seem?

"...Temari.." She stopped sobbing for a second to glare at me.

"Don't talk to me!" She sobbed. I refused.

"I know I probably just made your life a pain...but...there will be someone out there.. not me.. who will make you feel so happy that you don't ever want your moments with them to end," I said these words, almost describing how I felt around Teima.. but there wasn't words to describe that for me. Temari looked up and sniffed, looking at me instead of glaring.

"You sure?" I nodded.

"Certain. And I'm a guy with an IQ of over 200, so there's almost a guarantee." Temari smiled a little. The door was opened, and I was blinded by the light.

(A/N: Teima's point of view.)

I waited impatiently for the seven minutes to be over. Did they make out? Are they together now? Finally, Gaara stood up to open the door. Shikamaru came out first, his face expressionless as he glanced at me. Temari was next, and her face was...red...is she crying? What happened? Naruto regarded Temari for a moment, but then looked at me with an evil smile on his face.

"You next!" I groaned, stood up, noticing that Kiba was eyeing me along with Shikamaru.

"What?!" I shouted at the both of them, annoyed. Stop looking at me, people!

"Navy," I said my color, then walked into the closet, not caring who it was, Ekitai following me at my heels. I went into a corner, sat down, and hugged my knees until I saw a dark figure enter the door then close it.

"Who're you?" I asked, unsure.

"Kiba," came the reply. I almost let out another groan, but stopped myself.

"Woopee," I said sarcastically. He came over, lifted me up so that I was standing, pulled my arms above my head by my wrists, and looked deeply into my eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" I sighed.

"No." He sadly let go of my arms.

"You have to give me credit; I did ask." I nodded.

"You were a good boy that time.." I grabbed Ekitai, then clung to her. She squirmed slightly, but held still when she felt my tears on her fur.

Shikamaru...

I remembered the pleasant feeling as I cuddled him, that one day when I told myself that I wouldn't mind him kissing me.. which is still true.. how I felt so...so.._jealous_ when Temari just looked at him, how I wanted him to be soo so safe when we found Sasuke..

Shikamaru, I think I love you.

Those were probably the words that got Temari crying..I'd probably do the same, maybe worse.. I don't know..

Kiba sighed, bored. I felt the rush of the air that escaped his lungs, he was still way too close for comfort. I gave him a hug, and decided to tell him once more.

"Kiba, you shouldn't like me." He looked up at me, eyes shouting, "I KNOW ALREADY."

"...You're amazing, Teima...you're right. I shouldn't. There's just onnneeee teeenssyyy problem." I raised an eyebrow.

"What's that?"

"I don't think I can force myself to not like you." I nodded, understanding. I can't do that with Shikamaru either. Even if he does reject me.

"I'm just saying... I think you should move on to other girls. For one, I'm not experienced with this crap. Two, I don't like you back...and I know now that that probably hurts A LOT. Three, we shouldn't let this ruin our friendship or our team." He nodded.

"Four, you're in love with Shikamaru," he added. I stared at him.

"Teima," He laughed, "It's waaayyy too obvious. The way you look at him, the way you defend him all the time.. How you treat him, how you're always with him nowadays.. it's obvious. I'm amazed he doesn't know yet." I looked at my feet, my face hot. At that moment Shikamaru opened the door, suspicious. Seeing me blushing, Kiba not too far away, he got the wrong idea, and stomped away from the closet. I stared at where he just was, and Kiba left. I followed after Ekitai bounded into the bright light to resume my place in my chair, wiping away all evidence that I had cried.

The rest of the party flew, mostly because I fell asleep. I felt someone gently shake me, and I fluttered my eyelids open to look up at Kiba.

"Time to go," He said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

Shikamaru was already gone. I looked around the room to find everybody gone except for Naruto himself, who was pathetically trying to pick up his trashed house.

"I'll go back after I help." I told him, and he nodded, then left, Ekitai and Akamaru following. Naruto looked around, and creased an eyebrow while raising the other when he saw me.

"Naruto, I'll help you clean up your place." I told him, then without his say-so, I got started.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Ekitai's barking and scratching woke me up the next morning. I groaned in protest, wanting more sleep. Maybe that'll get rid of all thoughts of Shikamaru being angry with me. She continued to whine and scratch after I almost got my wish while she paused. Next thing I knew, Kiba had opened the door, saying that breakfast was ready. Ekitai darted out of the room, and I looked over to Kiba, examining his face.

"You made breakfast?" I asked, surprised.

"Guys can cook too, you know." I smiled warmly, feeling the heat of the sun as it beat upon my blankets. I rolled out of bed as soon as Kiba closed the door, and put on my daily outfit, clean as of last night. Quickly combing my hair, I walked out of the door to find the delicious smell of blueberry pancakes and bacon. A glass of orange juice awaited me as I sat at the counter, watching Kiba move around, preparing our meal.

"...When'd you learn to make American food?" Kiba grinned at me slyly.

"Ever since I heard you like it," He replied honestly.

"Shocker," I teased, and squealed in delight as he placed my plate in front of me. I dug in, finishing it in a few minutes.

"This...is...delicious!" I said in between mouthfuls, a copy of Chouji. Kiba laughed, holding a spatula.

"I'm glad you like it, Tei. Can you cook?" I grinned innocently.

"...Maybe?" He chuckled.

"I take that as a no."

"Hey, not all women cook!" I said, defending myself.

"True, but the woman I marry will." ...Ouch.

"Meanie." He snickered.

"Anyone who told you I was nice was lying."

"Psh, Whatever," I said after draining my orange juice.

"...You got a message."

"Huh?" I looked at him strangely. A message?

"From Shikamaru.. he came to visit really early...reason why I woke up, actually. Said he couldn't sleep, and he wanted to talk to you. Er...meet him...at that..field? Where you guys were yesterday," He obviously didn't remember it immediately, but I was glad that he remembered at all.

"Thank you! Did he say when?" Kiba shook his head.

"...Can I have some more orange juice?"

"Hah! Get it yourself, big girl!" I frowned childishly, and lazily got out of my chair to go for the fridge to grab some orange juice. I found it, poured some into my glass, put it back, and finished the glass quickly. I love orange juice..

There was a knock on the door, and Kiba took long strides to reach it quicker. I could hear Shikamaru's voice at the door.

"Impatient, are we?" Kiba teased, and Shikamaru sighed.

"She up yet?" Kiba nodded, and pointed in the direction of the kitchen while I was sneakily getting some more orange juice. Kiba allowed him to come in, and Shikamaru found me drinking another glass of the addicting drink.

"Teima! Watch how much your drinking, we don't have much of that," Kiba complained. I placed the glass in the sink, and raised my arms in a surrendering fashion.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself.." Shikamaru watched my every move, and hung on my every word. I looked at him, butterflies fluttering their wings in my stomach.

"May I be of any assistance?" I asked, and Kiba sniggered.

"Take a picture, they last longer...is that drool?" He pointed to a spot on Shikamaru's chin where there was obviously no drool.

"Shut up, Kiba...Teima, come with me please?" I shrugged, and followed Shikamaru out of the house, waving goodbye to Kiba. Shikamaru led me to the hill, and stayed in the lead the entire time. He layed down on the grass, and I followed suit.

"So...what's up?" Shikamaru watched the clouds, his expression unreadable.

"...What the HELL did Kiba and you do in that closet last night?" He asked this without hesitation, and stared at me, waiting for an answer when he finished.

"..." He took my silence the wrong way, as any guy would do.

"..You made out." I snorted, yes, snorted, and looked at Shikamaru funny.

"Of course not!" He obviously didn't believe me.

"Tell me why he was so damn close to you, then, and why you were blushing so furiously."

"...I can tell you the first part." I bit my lip, thinking of how he'd react if I told him the reason why I did blush.

"..Go on. Rather have that than nothing." I nodded.

"He wanted to kiss me at first, but he had asked, and I said no. And afterwards he just didn't move away. That's why he was so close." I didn't even look at Shikamaru, I was staring at the sky.

"...Oh. Why didn't you let him..?" I sighed, irritated.

"I don't like him." Shikamaru was silent for a long while, most likely thinking.

"My turn," I reminded him. He nodded, not caring.

"What went on between you and Temari?"

"...Nothing bad." I rolled my eyes.

"Specifics, please."

"Well. She admitted her love for me, and I told her I don't feel the same." .. Really? YES! ... I mean... uh... Aww, poor Temari..

"Anything else?" He bit his lip in the exact fashion that I had bitten mine earlier, and my eyes widened.

"Not-... Not really, no.." I glared at him.

"Liar." I hoped it wasn't what I thought it was.

"You really wanna know?" He asked doubtfully.

"Yes!" I was clutching the grass, uprooting a lot of it, and making my own little pile.

"...Well, she stole my first kiss." I gasped. I knew it! I KNEW it! ...Uh, what the hell, Tei..

I'm such a weirdo.

"...Oh.." He was watching my reaction, and seemed pleased that I didn't like that thought at all.

"And you let her, I suppose?" I felt guilty about what happened a while ago with Kiba.

"..No, I didn't." He sighed.

"Oh?" I was curious.

"Yeah, the feel of it...was so ... wrong. You know?" He looked over, and I nodded, unsure if I knew or not. I don't remember feeling that when Kiba kissed me..

"Alright, now this is getting to the point where I'm going to be driven insane. WHY did you blush?!" I sighed, smiling, shaking my head.

"Why is that so goddamn important to you?" He shrugged.

"Like I just said, it's driving me crazy. Tell me, please?" I looked down sadly.

"I can't." He looked at me incredulously.

"What do you mean "you can't?!" Of course you can!" I shook my head, biting my lip.

"Kiba just said something that kind of embarassed me, that's all." Shikamaru sat up, interested.

"Which is?" I glared at him playfully.

"I just told you that I can't tell you!" He huffed, and stuck out that bottom lip of his. I got up, realizing that Ekitai was at my feet the entire time. I hovered my hand over her body, and felt the rush of the chakra leaving me as I gave it to her. The blue strings travelled into her head and through her body, and she grew as more entered. As soon as she was wolf-sized, I stopped the chakra flow and took out a doll that I bought her a while back. I threw it far, and sat down to wait for her to finish fetching. Shikamaru watched her run, eyebrows creased into his forehead. As soon as Ekitai came back, I handed the doll to Shikamaru.

"Hold that for a few minutes, will you?" He sighed, and did as he was told. After I counted five minutes, I took the doll from him, focusing my chakra into my nose like Kiba. It wasn't NEARLY as strong, but I at least have the ability. I recognized Shikamaru's scent, I had just wanted to make sure it was there. I threw the ragged and chewed up thing, and silently waited for Ekitai to fetch the doll, this time with Shikamaru's scent. This was practice for if I ever had to find him... Shikamaru watched me with a confused look on his face. I shrugged. He watched the wind blow the grass around with a grimace.

"What's up?" He shrugged, still watching the blades of green.

"...You wont leave me, will you?" I felt the corners of my lips push down into a frown, my eyebrows creasing into my forehead.

"It's never crossed my mi--" he cut me off, his voice furious.

"Yes it has!" I stared at him, nervously fiddling around with a single blade of grass.

"...When you dreamed about leaving with Sasuke to see your dad.." he mumbled. I gaped at him.

"How'd you know about that?"

"You tend to talk in your sleep." He smiled a little.

"Oh...really. Hm." He said nothing more, but lay down on the grass to watch his clouds fly over him. I could see their reflection in his eyes, it resembled his mood perfectly. Cloudy. Not sunny, bright, cheerful.. nor was it rainy, gloomy, and the clouds weren't threatening to drench us, but it sure looked like they might try soon.

"Shikamaru..." He didn't move an inch.

"Look... I don't want to leave you. It's just...that I might have to.." He still said nor did nothing, but I could see a little of the color leave his face.

"Don't do that," he whispered, barely audible.

"...Pardon?"

"Don't do that," He commanded more clearly.

"W...what?" I couldn't comprehend that he didn't understand just how badly I missed my dad.

"Don't leave me here in the fucking dust!" He hissed... He doesn't get it.

"Shikamaru, Sasuke wont let you come. You know that." Shikamaru looked at me, his eyes full of plea.

"Then stay! You can train and improve .. and then get your dad out when you're ready. Why can't you realize that that is actually an option? You're so thick-headed it's more than a drag, if that's even possible!" I just gazed at him.

"Am I really? I'm that ... stupid? To want my father home?" I rolled over onto my side so that he couldn't see my face, I was crying. Teardrop after teardrop hit the field, and they clung to the blades of grass for dear life.

"...Teima, that's not--" I cut him off, trying to hide the sob from my voice.

"Of course not, Shikamaru. You didn't intend to get that point across to me. I know." Guilty, he rolled over so he could wrap an arm around me.

"...Just...lay off.." I mumbled, and his arm twitched as rejection seeped into him.

"Fine. I'm sorry, Tei." He dragged his arm back to himself, and I silently cried at his "non-intentional" insult that hurt me so much for reasons unknown. He's called me that before..

I eventually stopped crying and rolled over to face him. He watched me, lifting a hand to wipe away the last of my tears from my cheek.

"I'm sorry," He murmured again, and I shook my head.

"I don't know why that even dug so deep," I informed him, then inched closer. Shikamaru took the hint, wrapping his arm around me to pull me a lot closer to his body. He then lay on his back, so that his chest was my pillow. I breathed deeply, and snuggled him as he stroked my hair.

I might as well tell him.

It's now... or never.

Because I do plan on leaving, and I might not see him again. I just want him to know..

"I love you, Shikamaru," I said quietly. He looked down at me.

"What was that?"

"...I love you.'' I repeated the truth, and looked up for his reaction. His eyes were widened in shock as his processed this information, his body froze. I knew this kind of thing would happen. Immediately I got up and ran as far away as possible. I had my eyes closed as I tried to prevent the tears that were coming, but I ran into something, and both of our bodies toppled over onto the ground.. I ran into the person with such force..

"Sorry!" I gave out a choked whisper and felt myself being turned over, accompanying a tight grip around my forearms that prevented me from leaving.

"Don't...don't go.." Shikamaru's own whisper tickled my ears. I opened my eyes. He was panting, looking down at me with such.. worry. I could see dread in there, too.

"Shikamaru..." He shook his head.

"You didn't let me react," He breathed, still trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry.." I mumbled, though not truthfully. I didn't WANT to see him rejecting me, most likely my own thoughts of that happening would be enough to put me in a lot of pain already. A lone tear slid down my cheek as I waited for the words.

"...Teima..Don't leave me yet. I still want to hang out with you today.. last day before a mission, and you probably know how serious I can get.." I regarded him doubtfully, examining his face for any hint of a lie.

"..Give me some time to think about what you've said, okay? My body's still...well... shocked, and it's difficult to process. I never imagined you felt that way," He explained, and the doubt left me.

He doesn't know.

There's still hope..

I clung to that hope like a leech, trusting it with my heart. If that hope is shattered... my heart probably wont look much better.

"Now I'm going to repeat this. Don't go to Sasuke." I didn't trust myself, and now would be a bad time to even think about lying. It could ruin everything. I didn't say a word, but just watched a bead of sweat roll down his face as he continued to hold me down, obviously thinking I would run away again. I might as well say something, and I'll try my best for it to not be a lie.

"If you let me go... I'll return someday with my father," I pointed out.

"...How long would you be?" I shrugged.

"I dunno.. maybe a few months, it could even be a year. This is Sasuke we're talking about." His face was easy to read this time... No way in hell is he going to let me go for a year.

"Nuh-uh. I'm not going to allow that, even if you try, I'll...I'll come up with something with Kiba, and we'll stop you. You can't leave me for a year, not even a month." I looked down miserably.

"Why..." I whined, not understanding. I turned my head and stared out into space, away from Shikamaru.

"Teima, look at me." I didn't obey, allowing my body to go limp as I closed my eyes. I want to sleep.

"Teima!" He shook my shoulders, and I didn't really respond, just mumbled something that couldn't be heard by anyone except myself. I sighed and looked at him unwillingly.

"..Thank you. Now. Do you know how BORING Konoha would be without you here?" I shrugged.

"Naruto can fill in for me. He's just as annoying as I am." Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. "What?!" I asked, "It's true."

"No it's not. You're not troublesome like he can be." I let out a deep breath.

"Can you get off of my arms now? They're kind of getting numb.." Two small blotches of scarlet rose up to his cheeks, and he let me go. "Thanks," I said, rubbing my arms, attempting to get the circulation back. He stood up and stretched, yawning, and I looked at the position of the sun. In a few hours it'll be going down.

"I'll pay; Let's get some ramen," I suggested as I walked in the direction of the shop. Shikamaru followed like a dog, and I just smiled, stopping to let him catch up. As he got even paced with me, I allowed my hand to attempt to intertwine its fingers with his. He clenched his hand into a fist so I couldn't do so.

"Don't tempt me," he muttered.

"...Tempt you?" He glanced at me, and I quickly learned that this was one of his "pains."

"To take advantage of how you currently feel about me. I musn't." I gave him a strange look, shrugged, and sprinted the rest of the way to the ramen shop, shouting "RAMMEEENNNN!" as I went. Reaching my stool sooner than expected, I nearly tripped over it, but luckily I caught myself. I glanced back to find Shikamaru not even trying to run, walking at his own slow pace. I ordered two bowls of pork ramen for us and waited for him to finally arrive.

Took him long enough. He got here just in time to eat his bowl while it was still warm.

"Finally," I complained before shoving noodles into my mouth. Shikamaru laughed lightly before eating his own ramen. We didn't take very long; Shikamaru wanted to go home early to get packed for the mission. I nodded, and gave him a hug before leaving, knowing that this could be the last time for a while...

We waved to each other and walked in opposite directions. I stuck my hands in my pockets, thumbs hanging out, and looked up to see my favorite planet. The moon.

"Goodnight, moon!" I yelled, then giggled afterwards. The moonlight led me home, there was plenty of it coming from the waxing gibbous. I entered the house without knocking, Ekitai sprinting inside first. I let her into the dog room to find Kiba's sister Hana treating one of them.

"...Who are you?!" She demanded, and looked at me frightfully. I shrugged.

"Teima Ryuka; Daughter of Miso Ryuka. A while ago I was told to live here after my father was kidnapped." Hana stared from me to my dog, then nodded.

"Cute pup." I smiled sweetly before shutting the door again, and moved one door down to my room. I packed for the next day...well, okay, fine, you caught the bluff. I packed everything, not knowing just how long I would be. Then my father's written words came to my mind: I don't know what they'll do to you, because you never know, it could be YOU that they're after!

Why would they be after me? I'm nothing special.

Finding the letter my father gave me, I stuck it within the new frame I found wrapped up randomly on my desk this morning. It held the picture I found, and I placed it in my bag as the last item to pack. Wanting a long sleep, I went to bed early. Tomorrow could be pretty tiring.

Kiba woke me up in time to get dressed and eat something. After I finished, he led me out of the house, explaining that we were to meet at the bridge. I shrugged, moving Ekitai's body the slightest as she clung to my shoulders. Akamaru was silently walking on Kiba's left, tail down and all. I glanced over to him worriedly before confronting Kiba.

"What's wrong with Little Red?" This was the first time in a long time that I've used the nickname I came up with for Akamaru...I came up with it when Kiba introduced himself and Akamaru to me when I entered the Academy.

"He doesn't like the looks of the weather," Kiba replied. I looked at the sky, all of the clouds had turned to one overnight, a huge gray storm cloud. I smiled; it would be great for me if it rained. As we neared the bridge, Ekitai barked happily when she spotted something. There was Shikamaru, waiting for us at one of the large posts with his arms crossed. I ran to him, still smiling about the weather.

"Where's Team Kakashi?" Shikamaru sighed impatiently.

"Late." As I was preparing myself to wait for a while, Yamato, Sakura, Sai, and Naruto showed up.

"Finally!" Shikamaru complained. I shuffled my feet uncomfortably as Yamato gave us all some information.

"I am the captain for this entire squad along with Team Kakashi's, but if we ever have to separate, Shikamaru shall be the captain of your team." I nodded, knowing that that was a smart move. Kiba just rolled his eyes and went along with it, Shikamaru only gave him the slightest response of acknowledgement. I glanced over to see Sakura and Naruto worked up over finding Sasuke, Sai was unable to read as usual.

"Teima." The response to my name was almost instant.

"Yes?"

"YOU ARE NOT TO GO WITH SASUKE-KUN," Sakura shouted furiously at me. I frowned slightly.

"It's not any of your business, jack-ass, so don't get involved," I replied, hating her guts. Sai smiled, it could have been mistaken for real though I knew it was fake. Naruto just looked from Sakura to me with a slight frown.

"Don't insult Sakura-chan, Teima!" He defended her...why the hell would anyone do that?

"Or what? You'll rely on your Kyuubi to have your revenge?" I sneered for once in my life, and Yamato put his hand over my mouth.

"Teima, what side of the bed did you wake up on this morning?" I shrugged, and he just narrowed his eyes. "This attitude isn't like you." I put on a fake apologetic face.

"I didn't get as much sleep as I desired last night," I lied, not wanting to get in trouble. He removed his hand. "Sorry, Sakura, Naruto...everyone." I was apologizing to everyone except Sakura. She didn't forgive my lie.

"Whatever, he probably wouldn't even notice someone who wont be doing anything the entire time." What a mistake...

Quickly I lifted my fist and slammed it into her face.

"You're right, because she'll be whining about her bloody nose." She clutched her nose, glaring at me icily. Yamato looked between us helplessly, Shikamaru was just staring at me with his eyes slightly widened.

"Teima, that's enough." Kiba dared to speak up. I turned around to give him a weak glare, but I couldn't hold it.

"If she says more, she deserves it." That was all I said before beginning our mission by crossing the bridge. Everyone followed, noticing my annoyed demeanor. As I reached the middle of the bridge, I paused in my steps to have a look at who was approaching. It was Shiinzy, sprinting at full speed, her team way behind.

"PIXIE STTTIIIIIIIIXXXX!" She shouted, almost flying past me. I shook my head. Shiinzy and her sugar highs...

Matsuri and this girl I don't know showed up moments later, mumbling under their breath. Matsuri stopped in her tracks when she saw my crimson eyes, the other girl didn't give a shit and kept yelling after Shiinzy.

"Hi Teima...Bye Teima.." Matsuri mumbled as she sprinted after her teammates. I didn't even bother to reply. Sakura put me in a bad mood.

It was when I walked about halfway through the forest when I realized I didn't know where I was going. I lifted Ekitai off of my shoulders to change her into a wolf, which was enough time for the noisy group to catch up with me. I pulled out an article of clothing Sasuke left at my house a loooooong time ago, and stuck it beneath Ekitai's nose. Everyone paused and watched as Ekitai barked and sprinted in a direction. I wasn't surprised, Sasuke WAS here only a few days ago. Kiba took some time to pick up on the scent too, and rushed after Ekitai on Akamaru's back. I quickly followed their example, Shikamaru sprinting at my side as I decided to jump from tree to tree to catch up with my dog. Team Kakashi was silent as we did our work.

It was a few hours before I actually managed to catch up with Kiba and Ekitai, who stopped for a break. Ekitai was panting, and walked towards me when she caught my scent. I landed next to her, Shikamaru next to me, and everyone else behind us.

"The scent is a few days old, but I think we'll find him," Kiba said encouragingly. I nodded, wondering if it was possible for Ekitai to get bigger so I could ride on her back. I grinned at the idea, and tried it out. Eventually I succeeded, but it took a bit of my chakra reserve. Hopefully we wont have to fight anyone. Everyone stared as I hopped on, Sakura especially amazed.

"There's room for one mo--" I didn't need to say anything more, Shikamaru had already jumped up so he was right behind me when I said 'room'. Naruto just gazed at our team.

"No fair! They get rides!" We all smirked, and I stuck out my tongue childishly.

"It's what you get for having animals as partners," Yamato reminded him.

"So...are we going to look for Sasuke-kun or what?" Sakura demanded, glaring at me with venom.

"Why don't you just call him your Sasuke Baby or something? It'd sound better than what you call him now." Venom increased, she was trying to poison me with eye contact. Shikamaru nudged me.

"Teima, snap out of it. You're turning into someone I don't know." I became silent at his words, and said nothing more to Sakura. We continued to follow Sasuke's trail for hours, when finally at sunset Yamato suggested that we "camp out" for the night. He did a few quick hand signs, and said something so quickly that I didn't understand. Right then a two story wooden house emerged from the ground. I stared at it.

"'Camping out'?! DAMN," I commented, impressed. Yamato just smiled, Naruto cheered, and Sakura just gazed at it. Sai's eyebrows shot up, indicating his surprise. Yamato led us all inside, and let us pick out our rooms. There wasn't enough for us all to have our own rooms.

"Why don't you and Sakura sha--" He soon regretted suggesting that because I interrupted him, asking where the sleeping bags were. He sighed.

"You can use a few blankets, they're in that closet there." He pointed to one, and I immediately went in that direction. Opening the closet, I found that there were 5 blankets. I took two, one for beneath me and one to cover me. I informed Yamato that I would be sleeping outside. Shikamaru was leaning over the balcony, his head resting on his head as he gazed at us in a bored manner.

"Teima, you're not sleeping outside," Shikamaru said. I looked up at him.

"Why not?" He sighed.

"It's rude. Yamato bothered to bring up this house from nowhere and you're rejecting it. Besides," he smiled innocently, "I wont let you sleep out there in the cold." I rolled my eyes.

"Fine. Yamato, I'll be sleeping downstairs then." I unfolded a blanket then spread it out onto the floor, throwing a pillow at the opposite end, then spread out the other blanket.

"Tada," I said sarcastically. "Happy?" Shikamaru just smirked.

I treated myself to a bit of the dinner Yamato provided before hitting the sack early. I didn't want to put up with Sakura anymore. While I was at the table, Yamato had explained that we were to find Sasuke tomorrow at all costs. I didn't understand why, but I agreed anyway.

Sakura's ugly face was the first I saw the next morning.

"AAAAGH MY EYES! THEY BUURRRRNNN." Sakura just spat on my face and stomped all girly-with-an-attitude-like towards the kitchen to eat her breakfast. I wiped away the saliva with disgust imprinted on my face. I rushed into the bathroom to put on a change of clothes, then walked calmly into the kitchen to see everyone eating in silence.

"Teima! Good morning!" Even Shikamaru was up before me, obviously thinking about things. Most likely strategies if we ever run into trouble.. I acknowledged Yamato's cheerful 'Good morning!' with a nod and squeezed in between Sai and Shikamaru to have my meal. Yamato warmed it up for me, then handed me my plate. I ate the meal in silence, following the trend, but I could feel someone watching me. I looked around the table to see everyone just staring at their food, and I could still feel eyes on me. I glanced at the window to see a sliver of a shadow on the grass. I frowned.

"Is someone out there?" I broke the silence abruptly, but everyone eyed the window.

"Dunno," Naruto said, pausing mid-bite to stare at the window. I felt Shikamaru tense next to me. Next thing I knew Yamato was shouting to get in battle positions. I whistled for Ekitai, who carried my pack with her in her mouth. If it was Sasuke, I guess I'd get to see dad earlier than expected. Quickly I gave Ekitai some chakra, and she immediately grew to the size she was accustomed to. I took my pack from her and put it 'round my shoulder. Her velvety lips curled upwards into a snarl, and her hackles raised. Same went for Akamaru as Kiba watched the window expectantly. A crash could be heard as The Snake attacked the house. Sasuke took me to the other end of the room, kunai digging into my throat. This reminds me of the last time..but this time he dug much deeper. I winced in pain, grabbing a kunai out of my pouch. I will NOT go with him if I'm forced. I was about to stab his arm when his grip around my side suddenly felt sharp. I looked at his arm to see a snake, biting my side. I gasped and stabbed that with the kunai instead, and it immediately retreated. Sasuke howled, turning on his Sharingan. Ekitai growled, ready for me to give her the word. I scanned the room quickly to find everyone fighting in pairs against the other three. Shikamaru with Kiba, Naruto with Yamato, and Sai with Sakura who were battling a woman that eyed Sasuke constantly.

"What are you here for?" I hissed, and Sasuke held his fighting position, tensed for me to attack.

"You," He said aloud, causing Shikamaru to turn his head back to face us.

"NO!" He shouted, then deserted Kiba, turning around to put me in his Shadow possession jutsu.

"WHAT THE HELL, SHIKAMARU?!" I yelled, and he didn't say a word. He held me still, and Sasuke grinned evilly.

"If she gets hurt, you do too...correct?" Shikamaru's eyes widened in fright.. I don't know if it was for me or him, but he immediately let go of his jutsu.

"Tei, get over here!" He yelled, and I looked back, my eyes filled with tears as I shook my head.

"Sasuke, take me to my dad," I said, looking back at him. Sasuke's grin widened to resemble the Cheshire Cat's. "Goodbye, Shikamaru," I whispered as Sasuke took me by my waist, pulling me up bridal style. I tried my best not to touch him, and Sasuke called for his team to grab my dog and to follow. Ekitai was about to attack a weird red-head lady when I loudly commanded for her to stop. She did as was told, ears folded back as the woman picked her up.

"Damn, Sasuke, this girl's dog's a load!" She complained. Two men followed as we travelled far away from the house. I smiled a little.

"No need to carry her, she can fly if you let her go. She'll go anywhere I do." Her eyebrows raised, and Sasuke's eyes revealed his amusement that his teammate had to carry something heavy when she didn't need to. The other two men looked slightly impressed. The woman let go of Ekitai, and she immediately took flight, flying directly above me for the time being.

"We ARE going to see my dad, right? Is he with Orochimaru and Kabuto?" Sasuke didn't reply for a while.

"Orochimaru's dead, I have no idea where Kabuto is.. nor do I care. But I will show you something, yes.." I gaped at him.

"How'd Orochimaru _die?_" Sasuke smirked arrogantly.

"I killed him, even though it was luck," I could sense the little bit of pride in his voice, but I knew it was the truth when he said luck. Not even Naruto with his four tails way back when could defeat him...

We neared a cold place that looked foreboding. Everything was dark as I tried to look around once Sasuke let me down.

"Okay, first of all, who are you three?" Sasuke lifted a hand and pointed at the red head.

"This is Karin.." He then moved his finger to point at a fairly large man with orange hair. "Jugo.." and he pointed to the other member who had white hair. "That is Suigetsu." I nodded as he said their names, implanting them into my memory.

"Where are we?" I asked, trying to see the sky through the thick, tall trees. Karin huffed.

"You ask too many questions. This is the gravesite." I looked at her quizzically as Ekitai landed at my feet. Her hackles were still raised, and her eyes narrowed as she scanned the area. She obviously didn't like the look of this place.

"This is where Miso Ryuka was buried, along with hundreds of others," Jugo explained.

"B-buried?" I whispered disbelievingly. Why did they bury him? He could die like that! Sasuke regarded me carefully before deciding to explain.

"Orochimaru used your father as an experiment the day he was captured. He's not alive, Teima. He didn't survive.. like the many here. There's barely any remains of him, though I don't know what exactly happened." I stared at the ground.

Dead.

Dad's...dead.

As it hit me, tears flowed down my cheeks in their own little streams. I felt my knees weaken, and someone's arms supported me. I looked over to my left to find Karin's face watching me with worry.

"You alright kid?" She asked delicately as she set me on the ground to lean on Ekitai as I cried. Ekitai somehow knew something was very very wrong, and she sadly rested her head on her paws, allowing me to cry on her fur. I couldn't respond, good and bad memories were attacking my mind like crazy as the words "Miso Ryuka is deceased" began to engrave themselves upon my brain. Sasuke looked down at me, and though I couldn't see it, there was a little sympathy in his eyes. He knew what it felt like to lose everyone in your family... my dad was the last of mine...Whoever did this, I'm going to kill them. Whoever's alive and was involved, I'll ring their neck and watch the last of the life they had leave their eyes.

"If you wish to extract revenge for your father, I do know that Kabuto had something to do with his death." He must have been reading my thoughts or something. I nodded, and gave him a cold look once I stopped crying. I felt like I had nothing in me anymore. A gaping hole tore my heart open, and it will probably never repair. Karin jumped back once she saw my crimson eyes, which resembled her own, and Suigetsu leaned on a tree watching me thoughtfully. Sasuke remained expressionless.

"You still do that?" He asked, interested.

"Not like I can stop it," I mumbled.

"True," he agreed. "Pay your last respects, we're leaving soon." There was little emotion in his voice.

Dad, if you can see me from heaven...I love you. I'll always remember you. You were the greatest...

Tears started flowing again as I tried to say what I wanted to in my head. Soon Jugo got impatient and declared that we're leaving.

"What about Teima?" Karin asked, still watching me sob. I shook my head and wiped away my tears as anger creeped up on me. My eyes now had a habit of flickering from red to blue. I weakly held out a hand to Ekitai, and pushed chakra through my fingertips. She continued to grow, and I stopped once she was as huge as last time. I silently crawled onto her back, and she got the message.

"Ekitai...f-follow them.." She understood, and despite the Snake's shocked faces, they led the way and she followed, flying. After a while I became more furious towards Kabuto as I realized that this was his fault, almost entirely.

He will die at my hands.

We reached a small cabin where they obviously lived for the time being, and I extracted my chakra from Ekitai to give myself a little more energy. Being small again, she hopped onto my shoulders as I blindly followed the team. Karin complained about being hungry along with Jugo, and Suigetsu just sneered.

"Make it, if you want it!" Karin glared at him, they obviously had some kind of rivalry. Sasuke was sitting in a corner, watching me mope in one of their chairs. Suddenly he was behind me, whispering into my ear.

"What are you going to do now?" His breath tickled my ear, and I turned around. We were inches from each other.

"Isn't it obvious?' I whispered back, my eyes set in a permanent glare as I examined the pretty-boy's face. I did have to admit, this guy IS handsome. He nodded slightly.

"But I know of your older plans... Now that they're ruined, I suppose you want to kill Kabuto and you think you'll be happy?" I sighed, irritated.

"Duh. What else is there to do.." In the next second Sasuke was in his corner again.

"Hey, kid," Karin called. My eyes narrowed.

"My name's Teima. What the hell do you want?" Suigetsu sniggered at my language, knowing that if Karin made me pissed she would regret it. He could just tell. Jugo just sat in another chair, staring blankly ahead of him.

"Okay, _Teima_, are you hungry?" I sighed and nodded, closing my eyes.

Grief and anger tried to fill that hole my dad used to fill, along with the hole of not being with Shikamaru and knowing I wont be for a long time. It didn't fit comfortably, but it somewhat worked. I was going to stand up to stretch when noticeable pain came from my neck and side. I didn't say anything, that wouldn't help, but just lifted my sweatshirt along with the fishnet beneath to have a look.

The snakebite was extremely swollen, red and puffy. Sasuke didn't look apologetic as I accused him, pissed.

"See what the fuck you did to me!? You fucking bastard!" I spat, and the other three looked at me in shock, Karin especially.

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun that way!" I threw not daggers, but swords at her with my eyes.

"You disgust me, calling him that just like that Sakura bitch," I hissed. Suigetsu almost giggled, Jugo just grinned in amusement. Sasuke's eyes widened.

"What? Who the hell is Sakura?"

"I take it you two don't get along, Teima?" Sasuke's voice was kind of hopeful.

"Not at all, hell, I punched her yesterday when she called me useless. That pig can just go die in a ditch too. You know they're still babbling about you almost every fucking day, Sasuke? You know how ANNOYING that is?!" Sasuke was smiling now.

"You punched her? Really? What'd she do, cry like the useless baby she is?" I snickered.

"Yes, really...Nah, she didn't cry, but she hates me now." I smiled as though this was a good thing, but it wasn't a real smile. I don't know if I'll even have any of those anymore. After having my little fun in making fun of that wimp, I turned on Sasuke again.

"What are you going to do about my injuries, punk?" I waited expectantly. Karin rolled her eyes.

"I know some medical jutsu, but I'd never use it on you." I turned onto her again.

"You're getting more like that brat every second," I muttered. "Karin, just go die somewhere okay? Don't forget to scream for Sasuke to help you," I added, attempting my own medical jutsu on the snake bite. Suigetsu was thoroughly amused now, trying to hold back his laughter. I didn't get what the hell was so funny, but I don't give a care now. When I looked down at my side again, my eyebrows raised slightly when I noticed that the swelling had gone down a LOT, and the bite marks were healing over already. Somehow I was getting pretty good at this.

When I finished with my side, which was completely fine now, I only had a little bit of chakra left.

"Karin, heal her neck." Sasuke commanded, and Karin smiled sweetly.

"Anything for you, Sasuke-kun! 3" I rolled my eyes as she skipped happily over to me, humming an annoying tune. It was done quickly, strangely enough, and she handed me a mirror to look at her work. I found my eyes not even crimson, but a blood red, and I guessed that it'd be like that for a while. I calmly took out a few twigs from my hair from the gravesite, and then checked out my neck. It seemed like I had taken no damage at all. I didn't say thank you, though. She only did it for Sasuke.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

[A/N: Will be going between Teima and Shikamaru throughout the next two chapters..

I had lost control of myself when Sasuke picked her up to leave. But stupid Naruto and Kiba held me back as I screamed after Teima to come back. Soon they all became specks, and one of them was a lot higher than the others, flying. I had wondered if it was Ekitai.

"WE HAVE TO GO. NOW." I shouted at them all, but Kiba's and Naruto's grip only got tighter. Yamato was suddenly in my face.

"Not while you're so upset. You wont think straight." I frantically looked around and felt a hand on my shoulder. My head instantly looked in that direction, strangely hoping it was Teima. But I found Sakura's face instead, anger and sympathy in her eyes.

"It's fine, Shikamaru. It is." I glared at her. Duh it's fine with her, she absolutely hates Teima. I looked down at the floor, defeated. Teima's somewhere far away now.. with Sasuke. What a damn drag. This is all my fault. Instead of trying to talk her out of it, I should've used force. Not the shadow possession jutsu, Sasuke proved me stupid when he reminded me that he would hurt Teima anyway.

I knew this would happen.

I felt my eyes narrow as I glared at the floor, and I felt my body loosen up. Kiba and Naruto let me go eventually, and I mindlessly walked up the stairs to my room, shutting the door behind me. After a few hours of gazing at the moon, I heard my door open and shut. I didn't even bother to look at who my visitor was.

"Hey," Kiba said, and I turned my head around to look at Kiba, feeling empty without Teima here. Kiba sighed after he took in my emotionless face. "You do realize she loves you, right?" I just stared, remembering what happened two days before.

"Yeah," I replied, wondering what his point was.

"Okay, just making sure.. What'd you tell her when you found out?" I shrugged.

"That I didn't really know for sure yet...Is this really any of your business?" I quirked a brow. Kiba shook his head and sighed again.

"You're telling me that the girl I like loves another guy, and he doesn't even return her feelings? That's lame!" I didn't even crack a smile but lifted my head to look at the ceiling. "...You do love her, don't you?" I just shifted my eyes to glare at him like he's stupid.

"What the hell gave you that idea." He shrugged.

"You...care about her too much," He decided. I rolled my eyes.

"She's my best friend, only person in this world who isn't a bother...besides Chouji. Of course I care."

"Not to mention you DO flirt with her," He added. I shrugged.

"So? What's wrong with a little crush?"

"And you'd probably die for her.." I sighed, annoyed.

"Again, I care. What's the big deal." It was Kiba's turn to be annoyed.

"You don't even realize what your feelings ARE, and you have an IQ of over two hundred? I don't believe Asuma now." He's such a pain.

"My feelings are ones Teima deserves from me," I told him calmly before turning to stare at the moon again.

"Which is love," Kiba whispered.

"What was that?" I tensed, growing angry.

"She deserves love, damnit!" Kiba said furiously. I froze.

For some reason I had no comeback. He just grinned. Damn, this guy's getting on my last nerve.

"You agree." I said nothing, but I wasn't breathing. I was holding it in as I finally processed what Kiba was telling me: the obvious.

I love her.

I love Teima Ryuka...and she isn't with me for me to tell her.

Suddenly I had the urge to go find her again.

"What are you doing?" Kiba asked as I got up and began collecting my things.

"Going to get Teima." I replied, and Kiba got up.

"Slow down there, speedy," He said, watching me with an unsure face. "You're not going without everyone else, are you?" I shrugged, and turned to leave. He stopped me.

"Wait for me, you wont find her without Akamaru and I." I sighed impatiently.

"What a drag. Hurry up, then," And he led the way out of the room. After what seemed like hours of waiting, we finally left the building. Yamato was only a few meters away from me, arms crossed.

"Shikamaru, Kiba...Where do you think you're going?" I wasn't surprised to find him out here, but Kiba was.

"No where in particular," I said casually. Maybe he'll let us off the hook.

"Would that "no where" have anything to do with leaving the rest of us here to go look for Teima?" I shrugged, but my grin gave it away.

"Could be," I replied. His eyebrows furrowed into his forehead.

"Go back and get some sleep." I sighed.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Yamato." I defied my captain...weird.

"Why not?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"I can't sleep." I told him this in a simple manner. He just glared at me.

"You are not going alone; Who knows what could happen. She's with dangerous ninja, and she might even turn on YOU just for the sake of seeing her father!" I froze for the second time today. Would she really...do that?

"Fine, let her turn on me. I'll bring her back by force if I have to!" I could hear malice in my voice, threatening that if he doesn't let me go there could be consequences if I couldn't control myself.

"...I realize she's your teammate, but have you ever given it the thought that she wanted to go with them? She sure acted like it," He added, not knowing just how much this hurt me.

Yeah, I do know that she wanted to leave me here for them.

No...not for them...her father.

I suddenly realized the possibility of her father not even being alive. What if they just wanted to use her?

"Yamato, I have realized that. I... I want to see if she's changed her mind." Yamato shook his head.

"I think it would be smarter to return to Konoha, and get a team set up especially for this." I glared at the ground, knowing he was right.

We'd probably need a Hyuuga, Shino...though Kiba and Akamaru are already here..

"Shikamaru, I think he's right," Kiba said timidly, noticing my hands that are now clenched into tight fists.

I really want to throw one of them at Sasuke's face.

"Yeah, I know!" I spat, then turned around angrily, jumped up to the roof, and lay down to watch the moon, trying to calm myself down. I glanced down at the spot where we were to find Kiba gone but Yamato watching me, obviously waiting to see if I would pull a stupid stunt.

Teima... you not being here is SO troublesome. I wonder if you realize that.

I just sat in that position for a few hours, my eyes wandering away from the moon occasionally to gaze at the stars. The sun steadily rose, and I wrinkled my nose. Teima likes the night better...though I can't help but admire the beauty of a sunrise.

Yamato called for me to come down for breakfast, knowing that I didn't get any sleep.

I, Shikamaru Nara, the lazy ass of all of my generation... didn't get any sleep. Teima, what the HELL are you doing to me?

I jumped down from the roof and went through the nearest window to reach the kitchen.

"Eat up, guys, we're going home soon." I sighed, and Naruto was confused.

"What about Teima? I'm NOT going to lose another precious friend!" He looked at me almost hopefully. "Right, Shikamaru? She's your best friend, isn't she?" I turned away. Sakura just moodily jabbed at her plate.

"I kind of agree with Naruto... even though you guys have probably noticed that we don't get along. At all. I just feel that it would be easier on Shikamaru if we looked for her today." I don't need her sympathy.. though I do kind of appreciate it. Sai actually looked shocked; he's finally opening up a little.

"We're not going to get that...oh...what's her name...well..." He thought for a bit, wondering what to call her. "That ugly girl that was with us earlier who insulted Sakura and punched her? I like her." I already knew his "witty" trick of using opposite adjectives to describe people, and it made me almost jealous, even though I already know that Teima doesn't like him. Sakura gave Sai a deathly glare, learning that everyone except Naruto and Yamato were probably on Teima's side. Kiba didn't say a word; he was just petting Akamaru since he already finished his breakfast.

I sighed, appreciating Team Kakashi for once.

"No, we're not," Yamato told them, and everyone except Kiba and Yamato turned to me expecting some sort of reaction. Naruto looked especially surprised that I showed almost no emotion.

"You don't care, Shikamaru?! Man, some best friend YOU are!" I gave him a deathly glare, annoyed. He really is a pain. Sakura almost punched him.

"Shut up!" She hissed. "He probably doesn't want to think about it, you dumb ass!" Naruto just sat there, a huge lump on his head.

"Oh..right...sorry.." Sakura turned to me.

"Guys, it's not that I don't care." Kiba snorted and finally spoke up.

"That's an understatement," He muttered. Sai looked up from his plate to me, his face expressionless again.

"If you "care" so much, then prove it." I felt one side of my mouth turn up into a half grin. I can think of something.

"You really want me to?" Kiba gave Sai a warning look.

"You DO know that he'll kick your ass right now for saying that you like her? He was only restraining before." ...Kiba... He really is observant. Sai shrugged.

"I suppose not, then, if you don't want to." Yamato nodded for no reason it seemed after finishing his plate. He stood up and clasped his hands together.

"Right then! Let's move out," He said, trying to lift the mood. Wont work on me.

Ugh. This is such a drag... I just stood up and walked out of the house, hands in my pockets. We all left in the direction of Konoha, opposite from the direction Teima and Sasuke with his team had gone earlier.

We managed to reach the village by nightfall, and Yamato thought it'd be wise to report what happened to Teima to Tsunade.

Shizune ran into us first, and offered to escort us to her office. As soon as we all entered the room, Tsunade watched us and counted how many there were. Immediately she suspected something.

"Where's Teima?" She asked, politely curious.

"...She went with The Snake to see her father." Tsunade glared at all of us, particularly Kiba and I.

"I thought you two would...URGH!" She exclaimed angrily, slamming a fist on the table. Team Kakashi looked at us warily.

"Tsunade.." I spoke up. She watched me with hawk eyes, waiting for my explanation. I hesitated, remembering her monstrous strength and shuddered at the thought of what she could do to me if I don't give her the words she wanted.. Most likely that I was in a near-death situation and there was absolutely NO way for me to get her from Sasuke's clutches.

Both untrue.

"...You're aware that Teima wanted to go with them. I'm not going to come up with excuses, because believe me, it really is my fault." I paused there to think about what else to say, Tsunade's eyes narrowed. She really is an impatient troublesome woman. "I...I failed her. I couldn't keep her with me.." I'm crying! What a drag!

Quickly wiping away the tears that managed to escape, I looked up to find everyone staring at me, shocked. They haven't seen me cry since Asuma's funeral. Tsunade didn't glare at me anymore, and Naruto looked like he was going to come over here just to give me a hug and cheer me up. Sakura and Kiba eyed me with a frown, Sakura suspecting something, Kiba knowing. I shrugged a little, and straightened up, looking Tsunade in the eye. "I'm sorry.. I failed not only her, but the village as well. I'll get her back." Strangely enough, I said this with determination. Naruto smiled that same one that used to bother me, but now it was comforting.

"That's the spirit, Shikamaru! I wish you acted that way back at that house!" I rolled my eyes. Yamato figured I was finished.

"I suggest that we create a special team to go search for Teima." Tsunade nodded, probably already thinking of one.

"You're dismissed. Shikamaru and Kiba, stay here, please." She laced her fingers together as Team Kakashi walked out of the room in single file. Kiba and I shuffled on our feet nervously.

"You two will be on that search team, of course. Shikamaru, I'd like for you to decide who else would come." I sighed, rolled my eyes to look upwards as I thought about it, using my fingers to count as I went.

"Hmmm...Neji Hyuuga, Shino Aburame, Kiba and I, aaaaannnnddddd..." I smiled a little. "...I almost said Teima, but let's go with Naruto. We need another person to get Teima away while they rest of us could possibly be fighting." Tsunade nodded.

"That shall be arranged, then." She gazed at me for a minute, almost thoughtfully. I raised an eyebrow.

"Hm?"

"Nothing... just thinking of your behavior today. You two are dismissed, the mission will begin tomorrow. Meet everyone at the bridge, I'll have people report to them about it." I followed Kiba out of the room after giving Tsunade a small frown. We both lifted a hand as a symbol of goodbye, each going opposite directions to return to our homes. I kicked a few rocks as I walked back, it was probably late. Mom and dad would be sleeping... Yay.

I grinned a little, hopefully I'll succeed in leading this mission tomorrow...hopefully.

I snuck into my house to find it dark, very dark, which wasn't comforting. As I had suspected, my parental units were asleep... I snickered at the thought of "parental units." I don't even know where tha---- Wait.. didn't Teima used to call her parents that? Way back when she had BOTH...and now she has one. Either that or neither. I just sprawled myself across my bed, and fell asleep quickly, seeing as how I haven't had any for at least 24 hours.

Mom woke me up.

"Shikamaru Nara, you get up! Now! Breakfast is ready, and your father wants to talk to you," I groaned loudly and rolled over a little too far, falling off of the bed and landing headfirst on my wooden floor.

"Ouch.." I muttered, rubbing my head before glaring at the door my mother just shut. "Troublesome.." I mumbled, groggily getting up to do as I was told. Slowly I walked to the table where dad sat, eating. I pulled out a chair, not caring that it made a screeching noise on the floor. My mother glared at me, and my dad looked like he wanted to sigh heavily. Quickly the troublesome woman placed my meal in front of me, and I blankly stared at it, not hungry. I'm more awake now, though.

Today's the day I'm going to drag Teima back with me... even if it's by her hood... or her foot... or.. whatever. She's coming back whether she likes it or not!

My mother sighed impatiently, putting a hand on her hip.

"Are you going to eat or not? I SLAVED over that for you, yes for you, Shikamaru Nara, knowing that you had a mission today!" I sighed and rolled my eyes. Please, please please please...whoever can hear my thoughts...may my wife NOT be like her.

Moodily I took my fork and stabbed something I didn't recognize and shoved it in my mouth. I kept it there, digusted at the taste. Probably looking like a chipmunk, my dad grinned.

"What are you doing today?" He asked this casually, watching me struggle not to spit this out. I shrugged, not wanting to speak. My mother watched me, crestfallen.

"You don't like the food I provided for you?" I stared at her and shrugged for the second time.

"Just swallow it, you wuss," My dad teased, wanting an answer from his early conversation starter. Afraid that I might throw it back up, I swallowed. I winced as it went down my throat painfully; I didn't chew it.

"Er, thanks mom, but I'm not hungry this morning." She glared at me with a little venom and jerked my plate away. I looked back to my dad. "...I'm going on a mission." At this my dad burst out laughing.

"I figured that out myself," He chuckled, "But give me the specifics."

"Just out on a rescue mission.." I allowed it to be general, they don't know about Tei yet. Mom turned around, interested.

"Who?" My eyebrows instantly creased into my forehead.

"Teima." My dad's mouth opened ever so slightly, and his cigarette fell out, landing on his pants. Quickly he grabbed it and stuck it back in his mouth, acting like nothing happened.

"OUR Teima? Or another Teima who we don't know? Maybe there's someone with the last name Teima?" My mom suggested all of these things, and I got a little irritated.

"My best friend, who else.." My dad was still staring at me, wide eyed.

"Was she kidnapped? Hell, I'll go with you! She's like...a daughter to me!" Mom nodded frantically. I smiled crookedly; If only they knew how much I wish to make her their daughter..

"No, she wasn't kidnapped." Both of my parents had the same troubled look on their faces. "...She chose to go with Sasuke Uchiha to see her father again." Again, the troublesome cigarette fell out of my dad's mouth, and he slumped back in his chair. Mom gasped, putting her hands to her mouth.

"She went with that Uchiha kid?!" I sighed and nodded. My dad looked up at me with a serious expression.

"Good luck," My mom agreed with a slight nod, and it was then that I walked out of the house, hands in their normal spot; my pockets.

I walked aimlessly; I had nowhere to be until around noon. When I finally realized that I wasn't in the village, I looked around to find a field. It looked like a bright day, but for some reason, purple clouds hovered over this field. Don't ask why, but all of the flowers in this field reminded me of ones someone would make of paper..

Finally focusing on what I was looking at, I found Shienna to be watching the clouds with Kakashi. I smiled; she really did take on to my hobby. I walked over there briskly, taking long strides. Quickly I reached my destination, and as I got closer, I slowed down. I gave them a small wave and a grin when they looked at me, eyebrows raised. I decided to sit myself next to Shienna to have a chat.

"Hey Shikamaru." I sighed, wondering if Teima was okay after recieving a usual greeting from Shienna.

"Hey.." I replied, coming up with plans to use later on today... I'm getting too worked up over this one mission. What a pain.

"Where's Tei? She always follows you," Shienna asked, perplexed. I turned my head slightly to just gaze at my friend, and frowned a little when she mentioned the person I'm going after today.

"Not here," I replied smoothly, knowing that this wasn't a good enough answer. I don't want to bring it up right away, though..

"Well, if you're not going to tell me where she is directly, then, where is she not?" I smiled. I like this game.

"She's not here with us. Not with Kiba. Not with Tsunade, Naruto, or anyone within this village. She's not in the Sand Village, the Rice Country, nor the grass...She's not in the land of the water, nor the sound. She's not beating up Sakura, nor is she making rude comments to Ino.. She's not making fun out of a sensei...She's not on a mission." I came up with as many random things to tell Shienna where she wasn't, giving no hint of where she was. She frowned slightly, remembering that I don't give up answers easy.

"Name the first letter of the person he's with." It was my turn to frown, I don't like narrowing her options.

"Fine. The first letter is 'S'."

"Sasori?" I didn't respond. "Sai?" Still no reply. "Sasuke?" She muttered. I shifted a little when she said "Sasuke," knowing that my expression probably revealed everything.

He got away with her...

Who knows what could have happened between yesterday and this morning?

She could be dead.

...Don't think about that..

I felt a little bit of moisture come to my eyes as I thought "She could be dead" only once. I blinked a few times, pushing the tears back before they could even try to escape.

Her eyes narrowed to fine slits, and I could hear her teeth clench together as I watched her hands coil into fists.

"Sasuke... the fucking ass. I'll team up with Itachi, rip apart his guts, and paint his friend's faces with his blood.." She muttered under her breath. I raised my eyebrows, startled at her language and reaction. I should know better, though... Shienna and Teima would be closer than her and myself if Shienna didn't leave... I smiled slightly, still fighting the tears.

"Yeah, no disagreements there...but that's what I'm doing today." I sighed lightly. "Rounding up a team of trackers and an obnoxious blonde to save her...well, it might not be save...maybe...steal?" I couldn't find the right word, but all of them seemed fine as long as they contained the definition of bringing her back to Konoha. She obviously wanted to come, and I sympathized. She grinned evilly, though still angry.

"Heh.. it'd be quite a show if I could go. You'd find his head in his toilet, a leg in his closet, one of his eyeballs in a droor where EVERYONE would look... I would rip him limb from limb. He'd be unrecognizable." I stared at her, almost smiling at her morbid nature on this subject. About ready to cheer and encourage her to go, I said something else instead.

"I agree; it would be a show. Though the mission objective is to rescue Tei, not kill someone this village is already trying to find." She glared at me, and I didn't move an inch. Sure, there's fear.. but I'm not willing to give in. I glanced up at the little gap in the clouds that revealed the sun and realized that it was around the noon hour. Sighing, I got up.

"I have to go. We're supposed to meet around this time." Shienna waved a sad goodbye to me, and I gave her a lazy smile in return before dashing to the bridge.

The captain of the group shouldn't be late.

Luckily, I was the first one there, though Neji, Shino, and Kiba along with Akamaru arrived not too much later. Of course, Uzumaki would be late. It's almost expected. I groaned, impatient.

At that second he jumped down from a roof, grinning that same old grin.

"Let's go!" Being the overconfident kid that he is, he gave us all a thumbs up before I lay out the simple plan.

"Shino, would you mind sending a few bugs ahead to search for Teima?" He nodded slightly, lifting a finger to reveal a few tracking bugs. They flew away at high speeds, getting out of my range of vision quickly. "Kiba, you'll be doing the scent tracking, of course, and Neji, you will obviously be the one looking ahead of our trail to see if you can spot them. 'Them' meaning not only Teima Ryuka, but Sasuke Uchiha and 3 other people he has rounded up; one of them being a woman. Naruto, you and I will be waiting to see if they spot anything." With those words we all set out on our search.

We had searched for hours, when finally Teima's scent became stronger to Kiba and Akamaru. Shino also recieved a report from one of his insects as well.

"She's north, just a few kilometers ahead." I nodded, trying to hide my enthusiasm. After twenty minutes of following Sasuke's trail rather than Teima's --- She must have been flying on Ekitai --- Neji gasped slightly.

"I see her! I see Teima!" I looked ahead, searching, though I couldn't see nearly as far... damnit. If that's not a drag, I don't know what is.

"Is she with other people?" I asked, wanting as much information as humanly possible. Neji nodded.

"They're in this...cabin...Teima's sleeping, and.." He paused for a second. "That has to be Sasuke. He's.. chatting with a woman ... Oh...OH.." I looked at him anxiously.

"What?"

"The woman's pointing EXACTLY at me!" He almost screeched, and I felt my body go numb. She knows that we're coming... but... how?!

"One of my bugs is clinging to Teima's clothing," Shino reported, and I nodded curtly.

Then it hit me.

This woman must be able to sense our chakra somehow. She obviously doesn't have any eye abilities.. and there's almost no other way she could know without having amazingly sensitive hearing, or being able to feel the vibrations of our feet pounding on these trees..

"There's a large man and a thinner but deadlier-looking one, they're both sleeping," Neji said, and I nodded again. "Sasuke turned on his Sharingan.." Neji shuddered, "They're expecting an attack." I glanced to Naruto.

"You hear that? No pulling stupid stunts!" I yelled across to him, he was another two trees away. He frowned, but I suppose he understood. Soon we reached the cabin, and Shino was the first to stop, pausing. He already knew the plan I was getting in my head, and was releasing thousands of bugs. I recognized a few of them to be killers. Naruto was staring at the shack, his eyes reacting like Teima's when she got angry...except more scary. His pupils were turning into slits, and he was baring fangs instead of teeth now.

Suddenly a man with white hair rose from a liquid form in the ground, sliding beneath the cabin. His grin revealed teeth that resembled a shark's, and he pulled out a sword that Naruto immediately recognized.

"That's Zabuza's sword!" He exclaimed, his shock becoming more apparent within each second.

"Shut your trap, Naruto!" Kiba hissed, glaring at the stranger. Akamaru gave him a snarl and a low, vicious growl that made me thankful that Kiba was on my side.

It was then when the others appeared, the woman smiling triumphantly that she had indeed spotted people, Teima staring at us all wide-eyed. I almost smiled, except there was one teeeeensy problem.

Her eyes resembled Naruto's more than ever besides the freaky pupil thing. They were a blood red, and she came out of the cabin with a glare on her face, though once she spotted me her eyes lit up the tiniest bit. A sour expression claimed her face as everyone stared at her. Ekitai wandered out of the building, wolf-sized. Sasuke was to Teima's right, Teima was to the woman's left, the white-haired man in front of them all, and a large guy to Sasuke's right.

"Teima..." I said weakly. Now is my chance. I quickly made my handsigns to catch the larger man in my jutsu, but apparently Sasuke had warned him beforehand. I frowned slightly, and it was then that Neji took on the woman, Kiba took on Sasuke, Shino tried out the large guy, and Naruto eagerly set into a match against the white-haired man. Teima and I stood there. I'm not willing to fight her.

"...What happened to you?" I couldn't help but ask, this was the only time I might be able to figure this out. She looked away and glared into the forest around us, watching Neji not even doing his best against the woman.

"Orochimaru killed my dad the day he was captured. It's all Kabuto's fault." Ekitai whined, watching me, earnestly shifting around. She looked up to her owner, her eyes pleading, as though asking for permission for something. When she just nodded, Ekitai eagerly bounded over to me, wagging her tail. Teima obviously wished she could do the same, but something held her back.

...So she did lose him, after all..

"Tei...I...I'm so sorry," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"Don't be.. Shikamaru, I will come back. I still love you, and I always will." Sasuke turned his head in our direction, glaring at me through his sharingan. Quickly turning away to not get caught in his genjutsu, I looked at Teima again.

"...Why don't you come with me, now?" My voice cracked, filled with emotion that was unfamiliar to me. She turned her beautiful head to gaze at me thoughtfully before answering.

"Kabuto needs to die, and I want to be the one to kill him. Sasuke can lead me to him..." I shook my head.

"Sure, but he'll also want something else in return! Teima, I love you too!" Her eyes widened slightly, and if she was her normal self she would have smiled widely. But her face was just as hardened and unrecognizable as ever.

"I'm...glad to hear that.." She looked away from me again, and this irritated me.

"Teima, come with me now!" Ekitai jumped away from me at the sound of my raised voice, and Teima looked back at me to glare with slight venom.

"No! I will come back at my own pace," I realized that her and Ekitai must share moods or something. The wolf's fur immediately bristled and she bared her fangs at me.

"Fine, if you want to be that way.." I muttered, and threw a shuriken around her, wanting to hit a tree that was behind her.

Like everyone else, she didn't see my plan, but almost laughed.

"You missed!" I did a few quick handsigns and manipulated the shadow to catch her in my jutsu. Realizing that she was caught, she glared at me, muttering under her breath. I sighed.

"You still love me, huh? Nice way to show it," Her expression suddenly became softer, and she looked like she wanted to cry. "Tei...don't cry.." I pleaded, stepping closer to her, and being caught in my jutsu, she was forced to walk towards me. I did this until I was hugging her, and she doing the same. It was then that I released the jutsu, having an extremely tight grip on her so she couldn't escape. I felt her squirm slightly, but then she didn't fight me anymore. She then decided to hug me of her own accord, crying into my shoulder.

"I missed you... Why didn't you come sooner?" I sighed, stroking her hair.

"I wish I could have if I'd known it hurt you that bad.. Now c'mon, let's go home." Shock entered my body as I felt something cool and smooth, like metal against my neck. Realizing she wasn't hugging me with one arm, I twisted the one that seemed to threaten me. Tei... why? I don't get it.

She let out a small cry of pain, and I realized if she didn't resist, I would have broken her arm. Quickly she did a few hand signs.

"Water art jutsu!" Strangely, a reindeer, not a wolf, was the form that appeared as she released chakra. Blood and water came from all around, the blood coming from the other's battles. They all took a weird mix, clinging to her chakra, as the reindeer pawed the ground, threatening to run me over with it's horns. I manipulated my own shadow.

"Shadow sewing jutsu!" My shadows lifted from the ground to pierce the reindeer, but Tei got it to dodge. I frowned, concentrating, as I tried to kill the water-animal. Eventually I was able to manipulate the shadows all around me to have more dangerous ones, and the water animal was pierced about 4 inches away from me. She used different handsigns, and I jumped backwards when I realized what she was using.

Putting her hand to her mouth in a circle to aim, she shouted, "Grand fireball jutsu!"

I got away as fast as possible, realizing that she would hurt me.

Like Yamato said, she would turn on me.

Her own special blue fire chased me for meters as I ran faster and faster, feeling the heat at my back. She really does know her elements... even though she has a strange combination of them.

Her dad's death.. is this the cause for her acting so unusual?

Running back, I found the sight of Kiba and Akamaru battling fiercely, both of them slightly wounded, while Sasuke appeared to have no wounds at all. I looked around the other way to find the woman severely wounded, Neji was just too much for her. Shino had trapped the big guy with his bugs, and he seemed...to have lost control of his sanity or something. He was in a rampage, destroying everything possible. Silently I wished Shino luck. Naruto was doing not-so-well against Suigetsu, but he was alive and controlling his Kyuubi.

I looked up at the sky to find storm clouds taking form. A woman's shrill voice could be heard coming from a distance.

"RUN AWAY, SHIKAMARU!" Recognizing the voice to belong to Tei, I sprinted back to her as fast as possible, doing the opposite of what she told me.

The sight wasn't a pretty one.

Purple chakra surrounded her body, her hair flying in all directions. When she turned to look at me, she had no pupils, but her eyes were just...red. She smiled, and it sent shudders down my spine. Her teeth were tiny, sharp FANGS.

The aura around her was that of power as her body steadily changed. Black and white were around her face, forming a pattern, and the chakra grew to have an appearance of a tail...

I stared.

This is NOT my Teima. She steadily raised her hand, and with the flick of it a horrendous wind came at high speeds... it reminded me of what could happen if you messed with Temari. She pointed at the sky, and thunder could be heard.

..Is it possible... that Teima can control all of the elements?

Suddenly I felt the presence of everyone who was in battle beside me, watching her in awe.

Sasuke was smirking.

"Sasuke... What did you DO to her?!" I shouted over the winds and the rain that soon followed.

"Just ... woke up something that deserved to be alive.." I stared. Neji was studying her body with his Byakugan.

"This is NOT normal chakra! I've only seen it once before..." He glanced at Naruto, who was watching Teima with no expression.

He knew what it was like to be in her position.

"Sasuke, tell me now what is going on with her!" He snickered.

"You can't tell? Teima is a Jinchuriki, container of the seven-tailed Badger." I gaped at him... how could Konoha not know of this? He took in my confused look and sighed.

"It used to be inside her father... but somehow, before he died, the demon transferred itself to a new body to preserve itself... and Teima was the body it found." I glanced back to Teima, noticing that she WAS looking more like a badger all the time. She was glaring at us all, and when I took a step forward, she moved quickly, only scaring me half to death.

Everything around us was being destroyed as she lazily waved her hands, doing nothing..

Soon, the chakra died down, and Teima looked like she was about to collapse. In a flash I was there to catch her, holding her close to me.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I slept well that night, besides the occasional small burning feeling in my gut. I had thrown off the covers to have a look at my stomach, when I found that it looked perfectly normal.

The morning after the next Karin had woke me up, warning me that people who appeared to be from my village were coming. I had immediately gotten dressed, and walked outside to find a lot of people, all of them I knew.

Suigetsu was in front of us all, viciously watching Neji, Shino, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru... and Shikamaru. My heart leaped when I saw him, but I felt suddenly bloodthirsty.

_Kill...-chuckles-...Hm...You like that one, eh? Fine, we'll spare him._ Hearing this high pitched squeal in my head, I thought I was going insane. Shikamaru was staring at me.

"Teima.." He said my name in almost a whisper, disbelievingly staring at me.

Have I really changed that much in a single day?

He made his shadow-possession jutsu within a few seconds, and Jugo dodged his attempt. Stupid Sasuke told him already all of the abilities he knew of that everyone had.. He frowned. I wanted to frown too, but decided against it. Suddenly Neji took on Karin, Kiba challenged Sasuke with an insult, and Naruto seemed ready to fight Suigetsu.

I silently wished them all luck.

_Luck? Oh yeah... they'll need it..._ The high pitched voice was laughing now.

Shikamaru and I just stood there.. I'm not going to fight him.

_You're not?_ ... Hell no!

I felt stupid, talking back to a voice in my head. Shikamaru finally spoke.

"What happened to you?" I felt uncomfortable answering, and turned away to watch Neji kick the crap out of Karin.

"Orochimaru killed my dad the day he was captured. It's all Kabuto's fault." Shikamaru looked crestfallen, watching me with sympathy. My dog whined, watching him. Restless, she shifted around everywhere. She looked up to me pleadingly, and knowing what she wanted, I gave her permission, watching her sprint to Shikamaru.

Heh. If only I could do that... but.. Konoha wont help me kill Kabuto. They don't know where he is, and if I get any closer to him, I'll be too tempted.

_Then kill him. It's that simple._

Go away, bitch!

_Such language... tsk tsk._ The burning feeling was at my stomach, and I winced only slightly, despite the major pain that was there.

Are you doing this? The voice laughed again.

_Who else, dearie?_

..Who the hell do you think you are?!

_I am the seven-tailed Badger...please, call me Fruvo._

Fruvo? I laughed to myself. Weird name. The pain in my stomach grew to twice as to what it was before.

"Tei...I...I'm so sorry.." Shikamaru's voice made the thing inside of me cringe as I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Don't be.. Shikamaru, I will come back. I still love you, and I always will." He glanced at Sasuke to find him glaring, and Shikamaru quickly turned back to me. I was still keeping my eyes trained on anything but him.

"Why don't you come with me, now?" His voice cracked...why? I turned to look at him. I suppose he can know...

"Kabuto needs to die, and I want to be the one to kill him. Sasuke can lead me to him..." Shikamaru just shook his head.

"Sure, but he'll also want something else in return! Teima, I love you too!" My eyes widened, my heart skipping a lot more than one beat. I think it stopped...

_Shit!_ The voice had courage again. What, you scared of him? Good!

"I'm...glad to hear that.." I looked away from him. That was a total lie. I'm not glad, more like euphoric. His voice was angry.

"Teima, come with me now!" I almost jumped back about ten feet at his raised voice, and Ekitai did. I glared at him. I can't do that. I can't abandon this...I can't abandon killing Kabuto! Why doesn't he understand?!!

"No! I will come at my own pace," As anger creeped up on me, Ekitai's fur bristled and she snarled at him.

"Fine, if you want to be that way.." He muttered, throwing a shuriken at me. I easily dodged, and it hit a tree behind me. I prevented myself from laughing.

"You missed!" His hands moved quickly to do handsigns...and my body froze.

Damnit! I'm caught in his jutsu!

I glared at him. What happened to free will?

_Killing him will make life easier.. I can help you with that._ The voice sounded pleading, and it disgusted me.

"No way," I muttered. Shikamaru sighed.

"You still love me, huh? Nice way to show it," I felt the tears well up in my eyes as the hole in my heart tore open a little more. He looked like he regretted ever thinking those words. "Tei...don't cry.." but I couldn't help it.

I do love him...more than I ever imagined.

He stepped closer to me. I obviously was physically forced to do the same. He continued to walk closer and closer until he gave me a hug, his head resting on mine. I felt the jutsu being lifted.

The thing inside me almost growled._ You're going to let him get away with that?_ It hissed, and I felt it's annoyance. At first I wanted to escape just to not be tempted, but then decided against it. I only clinged to Shikamaru, wishing that this moment would last forever, when I put my head on his shoulder to cry.

I missed him so goddamn much.. and we've only been apart for a day...

"I missed you... Why didn't you come sooner?" He sighed and started petting my hair. I love it when he does that.

_Ugh. Gross._ Shut up, Fruvo.

"I wish I could have if I'd known it hurt you that bad.. Now c'mon, let's go home." Something that was NOT me made my right arm dig into my weapon pouch.

FRUVO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! It just ... laughed at me. Suddenly I realized I was holding a kunai to his neck. A weapon to my lover's throat.

Does anyone besides me see anything WRONG with this picture?

He twisted my other arm, and I cried out in pain.

Thank God it was a reflex to resist him.. He looked at me, not knowing what was going on. To tell the truth, neither did I. I did the handsigns to my water-art jutsu...well...not me...Fruvo. I felt my lips move, and my own voice escape.

"Water-art jutsu!" No! FRUVO! STOP THAT! The demon cringed as I changed the form of the chakra to a reindeer... something less harmless. It also reminded me of Shikamaru, which I liked. Blood from other battles and water collected to cling to my chakra until it took it's form, and the reindeer went after Shikamaru. He used handsigns that I actually recognized.

"Shadow sewing jutsu!" Shadows from all around lifted off of the ground to pierce my reindeer...

The voice laughed again.

_Let's say this reindeer represents this Shikamaru person. If it dies, so does he._ You evil little bitch! Don't you dare!

I quickly got the reindeer to dodge every shadow possible, but he finally pierced it. The reindeer turned into a little puddle of water and blood.

SHIT. I have to get him out of here!

I performed the handsigns to do the attack that would get him far away from me.

"Grand Fireball jutsu!" His eyes widened and he turned away to run from my spitting blue fire. I made sure he was as far away as possible before my chakra began to run low.

Suddenly Fruvo stirred.

_What did I tell you? Now he will have to die..._

NO!!!

"RUN AWAY, SHIKAMARU!!" I shouted, when suddenly I felt a lot better.

I wasn't exhausted from loss of chakra anymore.. new energy filled me, surrounded me, in fact.

_Like my power?_ Realizing it was Fruvo's, I suddenly hated it. Feeling power surge through me, I looked up, grinning at the renewed energy. My eyes met Shikamaru's before I felt pain explode on my body.

W...what the hell..

Shikamaru stared, realizing I wasn't myself anymore. I felt my hand being lifted, then a flick, and a strong wind attacked the area. Fruvo pointed at the sky, and I heard thunder. She can control all of the elements?

_That's right. You like knowing that with my power, you are a master with all of these elements?_ I wanted to frown deeply, but realized that my body wasn't MINE anymore. For the time being it belonged to Fruvo.

I could already tell people were coming long before they even got here. Nobody was fighting anymore, but watching me with awed expressions, though Sasuke was smirking to himself.

"Sasuke... What did you DO to her?!" I heard Shikamaru's voice enter my ears, and it was then that I decided I wanted my body back.

It's _my_ body.

You can't have it.

"Just ... woke up something that deserved to be alive.." Shikamaru stared. Neji was looking me up and down and all around with his Byakugan.

"This is NOT normal chakra! I've only seen it once before..." He glanced at Naruto, who was watching me with no expression.

He knows what it's like to be in my position...it's obvious.

"Sasuke, tell me now what is going on with her!" Shikamaru seemed alarmed. The pretty-boy snickered.

"You can't tell? Teima is a Jinchuriki, container of the seven-tailed Badger." He gaped at him, and Sasuke sighed.

"It used to be inside her father... but somehow, before he died, the demon transferred itself to a new body to preserve itself... and Teima was the body it found." Shikamaru glanced at me to find me glaring at them all. He took a step forward, and Fruvo tried to move but I stopped her, realizing that I was regaining my body.

I moved my hands lazily as a tester, and the chakra around me destroyed everything around us.

Finally, Fruvo left me alone...but it was then that everything became black.

Conscious again, I blinked many times to rid myself of the blurred vision my eyes provided me with. When everything was finally clear, I could tell that I was in a hospital room. They succeeded in their mission. Looking to my left, I found Naruto smiling at me.

"Good morning, sleepy head!" He laughed lightly, and I just gazed at him.

"Where's Shikamaru?" My voice was hoarse. Naruto looked away from me.

"He's...watching his clouds." Oh...duh.

"Oh..alright, then. What're you doing here?" He smiled weakly.

"I was told that you've been unconscious for a while.. and I was curious." My eyes slightly widened as curiousity got the better of me.

"How long have I..?"

"A few days. Granny said your body needed time to repair itself...That thing inside of you did a lot of damage!" He smiled a little again, trying to brighten my mood. I heard a familiar high-pitched hiss.

_He knows...doesn't he?_

What? Knows what? The badger sniggered.

_You'll see._

I yawned, sitting up to stretch. Naruto watched me calmly as I got out of bed to realize that I was in those hospital clothes. Mumbling under my breath, he chuckled.

"Your clothes are in there, I would know." He pointed to a closet across the room, and I nodded my thanks. Walking into the nearest restroom to get dressed, I wondered if Shikamaru came to visit while I was unconscious..

_You're so obsessed._

Mhm.. I know. Pulling on my sweatshirt I walked out of the bathroom to find Naruto waiting for me.

"Hey...Tei?" I looked at him, puzzled.

"Yeah?" He nervously scratched the back of his head.

"I'm here for you, alright?" I gave him a weird look.

"Uh...Yeah..sure.." Not knowing what he meant, I just walked by his side until we left the hospital after I checked out. We waved our goodbyes, and I turned to sprint in the direction of the hill where Shikamaru and I would watch our clouds, Ekitai groggily following. I wonder how long she's been asleep.

I stopped when I found two figures laying down on our hill, recognizing them to be Shikamaru and Chouji. They spotted me quickly, and just stared. Chouji actually looked horrified.

"Hey guys.." I had ran over to them to sit next to Shikamaru, and he tried to smile.

"..I was just going to take Chouji to get some Barbeque..you know...just the two of us.." I looked down, disappointed, Shikamaru and Chouji quickly deserting me for their meals. Ekitai's ears perked up as she watched them walk away, hopeful that they'll whistle for her or something. I sighed, patting her head.

"Let's go."

_Hmn. I knew it. He knows something. That blonde obnoxious kid._

Huh?

_Go ask him yourself..._

I don't understand.

_You're so blunt. What kind of "best friend" wouldn't invite you to a meal with them, hmm?_

Nah..He just needed some time with his guy friends.. I could imagine her rolling her eyes as she spoke.

_Whatever._

Walking back to the village, I noticed people were nervously looking at me as I passed them. Some little kids even pointed and ran screaming.

I raised an eyebrow. What's up with them? I shrugged to myself, walking into the ramen shop to find Naruto. Knew he'd be here. He spotted me, but didn't grin as he had last time. I gave him a worried look.

"Naruto... I don't know if I'm being paranoid.. but everyone's avoiding me.." He didn't say a word as he finished his bowl, but sighed when he turned around to look at me thoughtfully.

"You know how people used to fear me?" I nodded. "It's kind of like that...people are probably still scared of me and Shienna, but they seem to know that we can control ourselves. But they also know that you are an inexperienced Jinchuriki, so I suppose you're getting the same treatment that Shienna, Gaara and I had.." I sighed, looking at the table, knowing he was right.

"It's just...weird. Even Shikamaru's trying his best to get away from me." Naruto's eyebrows creased into his forehead.

"He is?" I nodded sadly.

"Hmm.. I thought I told him.." I was amazed at Naruto. He's not hyper for a few seconds! This is a moment to cherish. "Hey. Come with me." He turned and started running, and Ekitai and I followed. I soon realized that he was going to the place where Chouji and Shikamaru would be eating barbeque, and wondered how Naruto knew they were there.

It was easy to find them. They were sitting at a table, Shikamaru watching Chouji pig out on his food with an amused expression. He looked up, hearing the bells of the door as we walked in. His mouth twisted into a slight frown as his eyes widened when he spotted me, and I heard the badger thing hiss again.

_He's obviously not pleased to see us, can we please just kill him?_ I wanted to punch it in the face. Hell no!

Naruto briskly walked over to the table, and I just froze as he slammed a fist on their table. He pointed at me, angry.

"See that PERSON over there, Shikamaru? Chouji?" They didn't respond, but he continued anyway. "That person is your best friend, Shikamaru Nara, and you're running away from her like she's your worst nightmare!" Shikamaru's eyes narrowed as they shifted to glare at Naruto.

"Go away, you troublesome kid." Annoyance creeped up on me as I stomped over there to lightly shove Naruto out of my way. It was my turn to scold him.

"He's just defending me, you jerk! Do you even realize that it wasn't ME that put that kunai to your throat? And changing my jutsu to a reindeer was the best I could do to save you.. and... and then using my Grand Fireball jutsu was my last resort to get you the hell out of there when Fruvo threatened to kill you! And now HERE you are, completely ignoring me when I thought it was you who wanted me here in the first place. Make up your mind already. If you don't want me here, I'll go back to my business in killing Kabuto." Everyone in the shop turned to stare at me. Naruto looked very confused.

"Fruvo?" I nodded curtly.

"That bitch that's inside of me," I mumbled. I felt something snap at my insides. Did she just try to bite me?

Naruto suddenly understood. Thank God someone did. Shikamaru was just blankly looking at me in shock, trying to understand what I just told him. Chouji was stock still, staring at his food as though he was afraid to eat it. Hurt and angry, I gave them a despairing look before turning around to run out of the shop. I purposely sprinted to the direction of the hill, wanting to escape this mess Fruvo put me into.

The man I love is afraid of me.. along with most of the world. I wonder what dad would say..

I watched the clouds slowly make their way across the sky, sometimes hiding the sun that threatened to blind me. In my head I allowed the song Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace to play repeatedly until it lulled me to sleep.

Waking up from my cat nap, I blinked a few times at the too-bright sun, then rubbed my eyes as I sat up straight. I heard someone sigh behind me, and it sounded like a guy. Startled, I looked back to see Shikamaru watching me. His eyes widened when I smiled.

"You don't...What about those.." He couldn't figure out what to say, and it made me confused.

"Eh?"

"You don't have fangs anymore!" The words came out in a rush, and I almost laughed.

"Fangs? I have teeth. Human teeth...Duh." He looked disgruntled, but nonetheless he sat up so he was eye level with me.

"After you left, Naruto gave me the most troublesome scolding of my life. Worse than my mother's...He also tried to explain some things to me, and I guess they're true." I almost grinned.

"You deserved it...though I am sorry for scolding you like that. I don't want to remind you of your mother... I know you don't want to be with a woman like her." He smiled crookedly.

"Mom would've been worse. Besides, I'm the one who should be apologizing. It was really cruel of me to avoid you like that.." I sighed.

"I better get used to it, you should've seen everyone in the village earlier." He frowned.

"What'd they do?" I smiled, pretending to make a joke out of it.

"They looked at me like I'm some kind of monster from a scary movie. Even the little kids pointed, screamed, and ran." He knew it wasn't a joke, but looked very troubled. Scooting himself closer to me, he gave me a hug.

"Complete change of subject, but from now on you're going to be under my watch. You're not running back to Sasuke." I sighed lightly. I figured that.

"Fine." Ekitai, who had crawled into my lap, was now almost purring. I could tell she didn't like Sasuke or his team. Suddenly I remembered something.

"Where's Shienna?!" Shikamaru bit his lip, thinking.

"I...don't know... Probably with Kakashi." I panicked, jumping up, preparing for my sprint to Tsunade's office. Shikamaru grabbed my hand firmly. "Don't worry about her, I'm sure she can take care of herself." Dragging me back down to the grass, he leaned over to whisper in my ear.

"Don't forget anything I have said to you, it would be a bother to have to repeat everything again." What he said sent shudders down my spine. Taking my other hand he intwined our fingers together, and pulled me ontop of him. I smiled brightly, happy for the first time in days. He examined my eyes.

"They're the beautiful shade of blue again.." I blinked.

"Hm?" He smiled widely before responding.

"Your eyes...they're reminding me that this pleases you." I looked around, realizing what he meant. Blushing, I smiled a little.

_...Egh. I wouldn't have come into this body if I knew you were in love._ What she said made me smile broader.

Then get out.

It gave an annoyed hiss.

_No can do. Your body is the only one that's compatible for me right now.. You're the only descendant of Miso._

Well, that doesn't make sense at all. That means you can't go to another body.

_Whatever._

Coming back to reality, I realized that Shikamaru was just gazing at me with a worried expression.

"You okay?" Hearing his concerned voice made me want to hug him.

"Yeah. Just had a small talk with Fruvo." She made my stomach burn slightly again as a warning to say nothing more of the subject. He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, remembering the monster inside of me. Thinking he didn't want to be with me anymore, I tried to get off of him, but to my surprise Shikamaru held me there.

"Tei, don't think like that. I'm not going to treat you like everyone else...excluding Naruto. Damn, now that I think about it, he's been a better friend than I have." I shook my head.

"Only because he's had experiences whereas other people wouldn't understand," I reminded him. He nodded.

We had spent the rest of the day together, much to my enjoyment.

As the day drew to a close, Shikamaru escorted me to Tsunade's office to question my father's funeral. She told me that she hasn't forgotten, and that when she gets the time she will provide an honorable funeral for him, though she reminded me to not get my hopes up that it will be soon. She said I should expect it around the new year, she has too much on her hands right now.

The month October deserted us, days of Shikamaru and I going on missions and spending more time together passed.

November followed October's lead as Kakashi decided to train me in my lightning elements, using the same strategy he had long ago with Naruto. I never imagined it would work with me. Yamato began working with me once I knew the lightning basics. He helped me move large pieces of earth to throw at a foe, but that's all we had time for before Christmas came around.

Christmas day had haunted me, reminding me that this year I wont be exchanging presents with my father. I decided to only give Shikamaru a gift this year. Not knowing what to get him, I drew him a portrait of Ekitai to keep in his room. It was difficult, seeing as how the camera was left in my house to burn and Kiba didn't have one. I had to repeatedly command her to sit, then get her to look at me. It would have been easier if I had asked Shikamaru to use his shadow possession jutsu, though it would spoil the surprise. It was Christmas Eve when I finished, snow falling in huge flakes outside the bedroom window.

"KIBA!" I squealed, delighted in my work. He sprinted to my room, sliding on the wooden floor in his socks.

"Something wrong?" He looked around, but relaxed when he found me smiling happily at my finished piece.

"I'm finally finished!" He grinned.

"Finally!" He walked over to lean on his knees, examining the picture with an impressed face.

"Amazing," he breathed, and I smiled sweetly.

"You think he'll like it?" He nodded.

"You're really really good." I happily gave him a hug and allowed him to leave my room.

"Hana's making us lunch for once if you want some later," He called, shutting his door to his room. I set the picture aside to let the ink dry, then walked out of the room in the direction of the smell of food. Sure enough, Hana was cooking some rice along with a few other delicious smelling things that I didn't really recognize.

"Smells good," I commented, and she turned around to smirk at me.

"This the first time you've smelled my cooking?" I nodded.

"You'll LOVE it. Not to brag, but everyone who's tried my cooking so far have never been disappointed." I laughed. It was then that I heard knocking on our door, and before Hana could even ask, I ran over to open it.

Neji was the one at the door, bundled up in his winter coat.

"Er..Hey.." He gave me a slight nod in greeting. "Want to come in?" He nodded again and stepped inside. I shut the door behind him.

"Where's Kiba?" I shrugged and pointed to his room. Neji took my directions, not even bothering to knock on Kiba's door before entering. Kiba immediately opened the door after Neji closed it.

"C'mere, Tei." I raised an eyebrow, but obeyed anyway. Slipping inside his room, I took a seat on his bed. Neji had taken his coat off, and was scolding Kiba with expressions alone. I could only give a guess as to why he'd look annoyed.

"What do you want, Neji?" Kiba crossed his arms and leaned on his wall.

"Well, I was supposed to say this without Teima here," He shifted his eyes to give me an annoyed glance, "But Ino's holding a Christmas party and she wants you to come." I laughed.

"What, does she want to have a holiday boyfriend that badly?" They both stared at me, and I let out a fake cough. "That's all parties are for nowadays.. The kissing, the snuggling, whatever. You name it, and it'll have to do with the opposite sex." Kiba grinned.

"Don't go spoiling the fun, Tei, or I wont take you as my date." I would've choked if I was drinking something. Neji gave me a worried look as I coughed loudly.

"What was that?" The badger laughed outright.

_What a loser he must be to want to go out with you!_ Her laughing was uncontrollable.

Shut up, Fruvo.

I say that to her often nowadays. Kiba sighed.

"Fruvo again? What'd she say this time?" Neji's eyebrows creased into his forehead as he looked at Kiba.

"That you're a loser for wanting to take me out." I chuckled, and Fruvo seemed pleased that I spoke this outright. He glared, though not at me.

"What a bitch," He muttered. I nodded in agreement, and he looked at me hopefully.

"So. What do you say? It's kind of obvious that you weren't invited.. I could take you as my date and it'd be fine for you to come. You have nothing better to do anyway; you finished that picture for Shikamaru, remember?" I sighed heavily. Neji backed me up.

"I was sent to invite Shikamaru too.." Kiba huffed.

"Damn. Well.. if he doesn't invite you by six, I'm taking you, Tei." I glared at him.

"Kiba, I can't go out with you! What would Shikamaru think?" He sighed.

"Fine, fine! Stubborn girl." I smiled a little. Neji got up to leave.

"That's all I came for. See you tonight Kiba." Kiba only nodded in response, opening the door for him to leave. I left with Neji, explaining to Hana that I'll warm up her meal later; I was going to visit the Nara family. She reminded me of a jacket, and I only shook my head, bolting out the door.

Brrr. Freezing. Maybe I should listen to people for once. I soon appeared at their doorstep, and knocked a few times. Shikamaru's father opened the door, and smiled once he saw me.

"You haven't visited in forever!" He hurried me inside. Shikamaru's mother was suddenly offering me hot chocolate after yelling for Shikamaru to wake up.

"Uh..Yeah! Thanks!" Immediately Shikamaru walked out into the room. He grinned when he saw me.

"Hey." I blushed slightly at his casual tone, and Shikamaru's dad laughed after giving me a noogie.

"You all are in a good mood today," I remarked. Shikamaru's mother smiled.

"Why not? It's Christmas Eve!" I only gave her a slight nod of agreement. She poured my hot chocolate into a cup, asking if I wanted whip cream.

"Please?" Shikamaru patted his lap instead of the spot next to him, and I shyly walked over to sit on it. His dad gave me a wink as he offered to bring me my hot chocolate and the woman of the house agreed.

"So. Shikamaru tells us he's taking you to Ino's party as his date?" I turned around, perplexed.

"Since when?" He only smirked.

"Since Neji reported that I better since Kiba wanted to take you as _his_ date." I rolled my eyes.

"What lovely connections you have." He pouted.

"You don't want to go with me?" I felt heat rise to my face.

"No, I want to go.." I could see his eyes light up a little.

"Good. Then you wont mind spending your Christmas Eve here?" I opened my mouth to say that Hana made me food, but I closed it, realizing that it was a lousy excuse. I let out a small sigh.

"Fine, if you want." I sipped my hot chocolate, relishing the taste. "This is delicious!" His mother beamed at me.

"Shikamaru, why can't you be more like Teima? She's so polite." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"Because unlike Teima, I can't be perfect." I smiled a little, embarassed.

"You know I'm not perfect."

"Mm.. Then why do you seem to be?" I could've sworn his dad lit a cigarette right next to my face, leaving the lighter on. Way too hot in here. He laughed lightly. "You're blushing!" I smiled again.

"What do you expect? A slap in the face?" He smirked.

"It'd be more like you, seeing as how you've treated other guys." I sighed.

"You're not like other guys." Both of his parents stopped in their tracks, eyeing me with evil grins on their faces. They were going to catch me in the act, but I shut up then. His dad gazed down at us thoughtfully.

"Shikamaru, I'm glad you chose her rather than Temari. She's much less troublesome." I hid my face against Shikamaru's chest. His parents are so embarassing! His heartbeat was a lot faster than usual, and the vibration of his voice soothed my nerves.

"I know." Wrapping his arms around me, he asked his mother for a cup of hot chocolate for himself. As she poured him a cup, someone knocked on the door. His dad got it, and a semi-shy girl's voice could be heard.

"Is Shikamaru-kun home?" I sighed when Shikamaru let go of me and lifted me off of him to go greet his visitor. I stood up to peek over Shikamaru's dad's shoulder to see Kuari Sinon at the door with her dog Seylin Emily. Ekitai growled a little in her small frame, her ears folding back against her cranium as she eyed the canine. My eyes widened.

"Kuari!" Running to greet her, I stopped in my tracks at Shikamaru's side as she stared at him dreamily. Looking back between the two, he didn't really recognize her until I said her name.

"Kuari Sinon?" His eyes widened. "I thought you were dead!" She shook her head, still gazing at him.

"I lived in the forest for quite a while." I frowned at her ignorance of me. "But I came back too see you, Shikamaru-kun, I just had to." She blushed a little, and I glanced at Shikamaru to find him rubbing the back of his head.

"Well..er..thanks," He muttered. Jeez, what an awkward moment. She was holding a bag in her hand, and lifted it up to him.

"Merry Christmas!" She smiled sweetly, and I glared at her pretty face in jealousy. What if Shikamaru changed his mind and wanted to be HER girlfriend before we even had the chance to go out? Shikamaru took the bag and gave out his thanks.

"Would you like to come in?" He offered. Damn you, Shikamaru! No! Her face brightened up. A lot.

"Would I ever!" She squealed, and made her way past me. I heaved an annoyed sigh, and she finally took notice of me. "Who are you?" I crossed my arms and gave her a half frown.

"Teima Ryuka. You obviously don't remember me because---" Shikamaru slapped his hand over my mouth, cutting me off.

"She's just angry that you didn't remember. Don't mind her." I glared at him when he didn't remove his hand. I was tempted to lick it so I could cuss her out or something, but decided against it. She looked between the two of us and giggled.

"What's the relationship between the two of you?" I really really REALLY wanted to answer this question. Fruvo was uncontrollably laughing again. I forced Shikamaru's hand off of my mouth.

"We're dating." Shikamaru looked at me wide-eyed, blushing slightly. Kuari looked at me, half crestfallen, half deadly.

"Oh..Well...Then Shikamaru-kun, can I take that back?" I grinned like the Cheshire cat.

"No wait, I wanna see!" I reached for the bag, but Shikamaru made it so that it was out of reach. He sighed.

"How troublesome...fine, Kuari, take it." She quickly made a move towards him, and all else paused. I watched her like a tiger watching its prey as she got closer and closer to his face. Too close. I slapped her, and she finally decided to take the bag and back away. Furious, she pouted at me.

"I just saw the mistletoe and--" I cut her off.

"Wait. What mistletoe?" I looked up to find nothing on the ceiling. "You filthy liar," I muttered. She gazed at me, wide-eyed.

"Teima, when did you get to be so rude? Surely not from Shikamaru-kun?" He smiled a little.

"That's just how she is," He answered for me as I glared at her with as much venom as humanly possible. Quickly she reached inside her bag, and grabbed something green. Throwing it up to the ceiling just above Shikamaru, she quickly ran over to give him a full kiss on the lips. I stared, shocked, and backed away. Shikamaru pushed her off of him.

"Mistletoe.." She whispered, blushing like mad. Rage creeped over me as Shikamaru looked above him, then glared that the thing she threw up. He reached up and took it down, shoving it into her face.

"Go home." She flipped her silky black hair, and stared at him with tears in her eyes.

"She wasn't lying? Teima didn't lie about you two dating?" Shikamaru just looked at her helplessly, knowing the answer but afraid of making her cry.

"No, she didn't lie.." Kuari blushed even redder and let out a small 'Sorry!' as she shoved past him to get through the door and out into the cold. Stumped, afraid, angry, and worried, I slouched back into a chair to play that scene over and over again. Kuari and Shikamaru..kissing... Shikamaru just went back to his couch to drink his cold hot chocolate. Somehow, his parents escaped into another room after Kuari entered the house. I glared at the floor.

"Sorry." He looked up at me, confused.

"What for?" I shrugged.

"Telling her that you and I were dating. I just ruined any chances you could have had with her. I kind of lost it." He frowned.

"Tei, that wasn't a lie. Dork. We ARE dating, and besides, I don't like her that way." I looked up at him hopefully.

"Really?" He laughed.

"Yeah! What, do you think I'd like someone I haven't seen in years?" I bit my lip.

"I remember you having a crush on her, though. Way back when." He cocked his head.

"You remember that?" I nodded. He grinned and shook his head.

"Like you said, that was way back when. Now get over here," He teased, patting the spot next to him on the couch. I blushed slightly, he'll never cease making me feel special. Never. Which is bad. I'll be blushing for the rest of my life!

Slowly I got up and walked to the couch, gladly taking my seat next to him. He glanced at the clock and immediately got up.

"Crap," He muttered, throwing on a jacket. I looked at him quizzically when he held out a hand to me. "We gotta go or we'll be late."

"Oh!" I took his hand to be polite, but he paused when he realized I didn't have anything to protect me from the bitter cold.

"Where's your jacket?" I shrugged and smiled innocently.

"Not here?" I responded, and he heaved a groan.

"Take mine," He handed it to me and ran to his room to grab another for himself. I put it on; it was huge for me. But at least it'll be warm. He led me to Ino's house, and they were ALL dancing this time. Hinata was even dancing with Naruto! I smiled, proud of her. TenTen and Neji were having their intense moment, Kiba, Shino, Ino, Chouji, and the sand siblings were all dancing by themselves, though thoroughly enjoying it. As SOON as we entered the house, Sakura shouted, "THEY'RE HERE!" And everyone stopped to stare at us, holding hands. Despite the music they all cheered and looked to Ino. I groaned.

"I knew it!" Kiba smiled broadly as I slapped a hand to my face. Ino decided to have a vote.

"Who votes for spin the bottle?" A few hands shot up. "Seven minutes in heaven?" More hands than the last shot up. "Truth or/and Dare?" More hands than the other two were raised. I groaned. Neither Shikamaru or I voted at all. Ino turned to me happily.

"What do you vote for, Teima?" I glared at her.

"That we play nothing at all and just have our fun without anything to do with you wanting to get a new lover." She looked like she was about to throw me out of the party entirely, but Sakura put a hand on Ino's shoulder.

"We'll get her with a dare," She reminded her, and I wanted to slap them in the face for looking at me so evilly. Everyone settled down in a circle with the exception of me. Shikamaru sighed and decided to join them, sitting in between Chouji and Kiba. I refused to sit in the circle, but walked over to the snacks to munch on a few Christmas cookies. Sadly, I could still hear all of their voices. Sakura was to ask first.

"Shino! Truth or dare?" Shino flinched involuntarily at his name.

"Dare," he muttered. Sakura just smirked.

"I dare you to...infest Tsunade's house with cockroaches, then leave her a letter explaining how this represents your undying love for her." The entire room exploded with laughter, even I had to laugh a little. I could sense him glaring at Sakura, but he did as was dared, sending the letter off on one of the cockroaches.

"Piece of cake," he declared, pushing up his shiny glasses. He turned on Chouji.

"Chouji. Truth...or dare." Chouji munched on his chips, though everyone could hear the loud crunching stop when he thought about it.

"Truth!" I saw Shino's skin lift up a little; he was probably smiling.

"How much do you weigh?" Shikamaru stared at Shino, appalled. I could hear the chips crack as Chouji crumbled his bag.

"I'm not going to answer that question. There! That's the truth!" He happily began to munch on his chips again, and I burst out laughing as I walked back to a chair to sit in. Chouji pointed at Temari.

"Truth or dare?" His voice was barely audible, seeing as how his mouth is full. Temari bit her lip.

"Truth."

"Chicken," Chouji muttered. Apparently he had a pretty good dare. "Fine...if you had to choose, would you rather make out with Neji or Kiba?" She gave Chouji a disgusted look as she made up her mind.

"Kiba. Definitely." Kiba blushed slightly at her choice. Temari jerked her head towards Shikamaru.

"Truth or Dare?" Shikamaru looked up, thoughtful.

"Dare," He grinned.

"I dare you to..." She glanced across the room, looking for ideas, when she found me clenching my fists so hard that my skin tore slightly and a knuckle was bleeding. Surprised, she changed her mind on something. "I dare you to go jump in Ino's pond outside! Shirt OFF." I gave her a disgruntled look, but Shikamaru just shrugged.

"Fine." My eyes widened as he took off all of his layers of clothing that was above his waist and walked out the back door. Amazed at how muscular he was, I followed to watch. He did a beautiful dive into the pond, Temari blushing as she watched him. He came up spitting out water.

"GAH! WHAT A PAIN! THIS IS COLD!" Leaping out of the water, he sprinted into the house. I followed timidly, noticing that Ino was going upstairs to find some of her dad's pants for Shikamaru to wear along with a towel. He searched the room for someone to pick on when his eyes met Kiba's.

"Truth or dare." Kiba didn't hesitate in answering.

"Truth."

"Do you know how much pain you'll be in if you try asking Teima out again?" Shikamaru tried to sound innocent, but failed. Venom took a grip on his voice, making every bit of it poisonous and threatening. I blushed slightly as Kiba stared at him.

"N-Not really.." Shikamaru just smiled.

"Would you like to know?" Kiba's eyes narrowed.

"You want to have a go? I'll show her HOW much better I am for her than you!" I gasped, clasping both hands to my face to hide my extreme blushing. Everyone was watching the two of them in complete shock, a few of the girls turned to look at me.

"Guys! Stop!" Shikamaru paused at my command, but Kiba didn't listen. He threw a punch at Shikamaru; luckily he had dodged easily. I got up, and in a flash I was in Kiba's face.

"Hurt him and I'll put you in what I like to call Hell on Earth," I hissed, then pushed the two away from each other. Everyone stared at me, amazed that I would say such things. "Continue with your game," I said happily, acting like I was full of sunshine and rainbows. Kiba did continue, though the environment was full of nervousness combined with an awkward feeling.

"Sakura." Her ugly face immediately revealed itself; she had been looking at the ground earlier. I let out a fake scream.

"Run, everyone! Her face will kill you all!" Her eyes twisted into more than a fearful cold glare; it was deathly, vicious, and ensuring me that if I didn't watch myself I'll get that shot right back at me ten fold. Before Kiba could even ask, Sakura answered.

"Truth."

"Why am I getting the feeling that I'll have to save Teima's life tonight?" Sakura only smirked evilly.

"I dunno.. maybe that's because if you don't you'll find her dead tomorrow?" I laughed lightly, sarcastically.

"Bring it, Billboard Brow. I'd absolutely love to kick your ass." Her smirk faded, and she stuck out her tongue childishly, not taking up my challenge. Ekitai had woke up from her nap and was snarling at Sakura. "Easy girl," I muttered, stroking her head until she calmed down. Now there was tension in the room as I realized why I wasn't invited to this party in the first place.

"Teima," Sakura muttered.

"What?!" I snapped.

"Truth or dare." I grinned.

"Dare." She looked at me thoughtfully.

"...How about we make this one truth and dare?" I looked at her, puzzled, but agreed.

"Which of these boys would you rather make out with.. Shino, Chouji, Kiba, Kankuro, Gaara, or Naruto?" I frowned deeply as well as Shikamaru; she didn't mention him.

"I'm chickening," I declared, and everyone looked at me, shocked. I normally never back out of things like this, but if Shikamaru is not involved in this truth and dare, I'm NOT doing it.

"No chickening on this one," Sakura said this with too much confidence. I raised an eyebrow as everyone agreed besides Shikamaru.

"Too bad, unless you include Shikamaru in that list." He blushed furiously and I did myself slightly as I waited for her reply. Her grin came back.

"Nope. Too obvious that you'd pick him. Now hurry up!" I rolled my eyes.

"Shino, then!" Shikamaru sank in his chair, and I cringed, not wanting to hear what Sakura would say next. I could see Shino's face reddening as Sakura pointed at me.

"I dare you to make out with Shino Aburame!" My eye twitched. Shino and I didn't move from our seats, though everyone was getting impatient.

"Just do it, Teima," Kankuro muttered.

"I. Chicken." Sakura came up with a comback that I couldn't respond to.

"You chose dare first, so do it already!" I sighed heavily.

"You people are such a pain in the ass!" Saying this loudly, I walked over to Shino, not daring to glance at Shikamaru. Without thinking I unzipped his collar and lightly kissed him, and he gave me a sweet kiss in return. Mostly everyone clapped, and I turned around to slap Sakura in the face.

"Gaara!" I said heatedly, and he just turned to me with an annoyed expression.

"What?"

"Truth or dare?" His eyes narrowed.

"Dare."

"I dare you to confess to Shienna your love for her! Immediately!" He blushed, and I saw some sand escape out of his gourd. Knowing what he was doing, I sat in my chair, satisfied.

"Done," Gaara said, then looked around and his eyes met TenTen's.

"TenTen.. truth or dare," he muttered. TenTen sighed.

"Truth."

"What's it like to be on a team with losers?" She laughed lightly, and blushed when Neji looked at her.

"Uhmm...it's great. They're fun." I could see Gaara roll his eyes slightly.

"Liar," He breathed, but let her go with that. TenTen sighed.

"Lee." Amazingly, Lee was actually there. He's been silent this entire time, waiting for someone to call on him.

"Truth." She smiled.

"Who do you like more. Shienna, Teima, or Sakura?" Shikamaru's head shot to look in Lee's direction, and he was blushing furiously.

"I... I believe the answer is Sakura-chan, though both Teima-chan and Shienna-chan are very nice.." He didn't look at any of us, and I smiled in relief. No need to protect myself or Shienna. Lee looked around and found his teammate.

"Neji-kun!" Annoyed, Neji looked over to him.

"Truth. I'm afraid of your dares." I snickered, and looked over to find Shikamaru eyeing me closely.

"What is your weakness?!" Excited, Lee's eyes sparkled and he took out a pen and pad to write this down.

"...If you ask TenTen, she'll say I don't have one." Damn, he found a way out of it. His hand no longer shaking with excitement, Lee looked up at Neji, bushy eyebrows turned down along with his mouth.

"That is not a fair answer, Neji-kun!" He shrugged.

"So? It's the truth." TenTen was blushing lightly, Naruto was laughing his head off. I sighed contentedly and sank in my chair, getting comfortable. My eyes drooped, and I allowed myself to see blackness, but was still conscious enough to hear the rest.

"Hmmm... Kankuro. Truth or dare." I could imagine Kankuro smirking.

"Dare, of course."

"I dare you to wake up Teima over there." I almost grinned, but held it to see what would happen. I heard footsteps walking in my direction, and breath on my face. Suddenly my eyes popped open and I shouted "BOO!" at him. He jumped back and clutched his chest where his heart was. His eyes widened, and everyone in the room laughed.

"Holy...You scared the crap out of me, Teima!" I smiled innocently.

"Would've been worse if I actually WAS asleep." Kankuro sighed and resumed his seat.

"Two people left.. Sai!" Kankuro dramatically pointed at him. "Truth or dare?" Sai sighed, bored.

"Truth." Kankuro thoughtfully examined him.

"What do you really think of the ladies in this room. No lies. Doesn't matter if you're afraid that they'll hurt you or not." With no expression Sai answered him.

He pointed at TenTen. "She has a weird hairdo. Sakura has a flat chest and is too bitchy, Temari is too bossy, Ino is an ugly bitch, Hinata is too shy but she has shiny hair, Teima's cool and pretty, though she seems to have some anger issues.." His voice trailed off as he finished, and I was pounding on the arm of my chair, laughing.

"Don't worry dude, just for that answer I'll protect you from them all!" I was still laughing, crying from laughing so hard, in fact. I got up and walked over to him, unable to breathe, and gave him a high five. He was actually grinning at me as I blindly found my way back to my chair. "Aaaah, that was a good one," I said, wiping away the tears. Sai looked over to Hinata.

"Hinata.. truth or dare." She froze, thinking.

"Truth!" He watched her.

"Seriously, what kind of conditioner do you USE?" I could tell he was serious and busted up laughing again.

"SAI, I CAN'T BREATHE," I shouted this over Hinata's answer so I couldn't hear. It was a few minutes before I regained my breath. Shikamaru was smiling at me, though he looked worried.

"You okay, Tei?" I nodded, still giggling randomly as I thought about what he said repeatedly.

Ino stood up.

"The party was supposed to end at eleven, and that's what time it is now.. but if some of you want to stay, we can still play something else." Immediately I got in line to escape, and it was then that I felt lips on mine. I was staring at the face of Shikamaru. When he broke away, he glanced up at the ceiling.

"Mistletoe," He whispered. I looked up to find he was right. Shocked but pleased, I leaned forward to kiss him back. Our lips collided with a crash. Anxiously I wrapped my arms around his neck, biting his bottom lip for entrance. He allowed it, and we soon were fighting for dominance with our tongues. He eventually won, and I resorted to memorizing every inch of his mouth. I smiled in our kiss when I heard someone wolf whistle and another person shout to get a room. Only a few seconds later did I feel a blow to my cheek, and I flew back up against a wall. Rubbing where I was hit, I looked up to find Sakura grinning triumphantly.

"I knew I'd catch you off guard." I hissed and got up with shaky knees; her blow caused me to make a crater in Ino's wall.

"You filthy low-life coward!" I spat, and motioned for Ekitai to attack. Gladly my dog pounced onto Sakura, ripping and tearing at her with her teeth. Sakura punched Ekitai off of her, and I took that moment to create ten shadow clones. Five took out kunai while the rest struggled to hold her down. While she was held down temporarily, I threw my fist at her face with full force; no chakra involved at all. Yet she still flew many meters away from me and crashed into some of Ino's furniture; knocked out cold. Everyone paused in their steps to stare at me. Fruvo, who was silent the entire time, chuckled.

_You get annoyed very easily.._

Oh? Really? Unlike her, I would NOT have punched someone in the face while she was kissing the man she loved!

_..I don't know about that.._ I snorted.

I do.

Shikamaru was staring at me in shock, though he quickly recovered and ran over to examine my face. I winced when his fingers grazed my cheek.

"That was not right," He muttered, "Not right at all." Curious, a few people took a look at Sakura, others asked me if I was alright. Naruto didn't know who to side with; his crush or his friend. Ino pushed through the crowd, finding me.

"That was totally cowardly of her, I agree. Teima, I feel really bad that you got hurt at my party. Can I heal your face?" I nodded, and Shikamaru and I waited for her to finish. When she released her hands from my face, it felt loads better.

"Thank you... That was very nice of you," I commented. She only smiled and opened the door for us to leave. Shikamaru threw one of his jackets around my shoulders; I gave him a peck on the cheek as a thanks.

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that," I said, watching my feet as we walked towards Kiba's place. He sighed.

"You had every right to do that to her, I'm not upset with you in the least." I smiled at him, though he looked troubled.

"What's up?" He glanced at me worriedly.

"I guess...I guess I just don't like the fact that you willingly kissed Shino." I bit my lip.

"It wasn't very willing, you heard what they were saying to me!"

"Yeah, but you kissed him in the end. Seeing you two like that made me so jealous.. I still want to sock Shino for it." I wrapped my arms around his right arm, and leaned my head against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry. You're right; I shouldn't have.. But you know, I really wanted to kill Kuari when she stole a kiss from you like that." He shifted uncomfortably.

"Trust me, so did I.." We stopped at the door, and I paused.

"Wait for me for a minute, okay?" He nodded, and I ran inside to grab his present. When I got back, I handed him the present carefully, angry at myself that I didn't think of wrapping it first. He stared at it in amazement, then looked down at Ekitai, who was at my feet, and compared them.

"This is amazing!" I smiled broadly; I had hoped he would say that.

"Merry Christmas." He smiled back.

"Merry Christmas.." His face steadily got closer to mine until our lips met, but he quickly ended it. "Teima.. come with me, please?" I smiled and shrugged. He jumped onto Kiba's roof, and I followed his lead. He was gazing at the stars, lying on his back. I placed myself next to him.

"Teima... will you be my girlfriend?" I grinned.

"Of course! How could I say no?" He shrugged, but smiled. He jumped down from the roof, and I followed, happier than I've ever been. We waved goodbye to each other and I snuck into the room I stayed in, and being a ninja, I managed to make it so neither Kiba nor Hana noticed I was even here.


End file.
